Her immune deficiency isolated her during COVID. This website helps
As a teenager, Greg, identified by his first name for privacy reasons, was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and when it flared up again his parents insisted he live with them.
“My family supports me a lot. They’re basically my full-time caretakers. [It’s] not how I imagined my life to be, especially in my 30s, but it’s the reality of chronic disease,” he says.
Recently, Greg, who is unable to work due to his condition and living with extreme pain and exhaustion, found out about the COVID Meetups website. It’s a free service for anyone in the world who wants to socialize in a COVID-safe way. So far, it has amassed almost 7,000 members in 63 countries, although the majority (68%) of its users live in the US
For people like Greg, the site is a lifeline.
This environment allows for safe socialization, which is especially important for people with compromised immune systems, as they are more likely to become very ill if they are infected with COVID. Vaccines are also not guaranteed to generate enough — or antibodies to COVID like they do in healthy people.
Adding to this sober reality is that as the virus mutates, the COVID protection for immunocompromised people dwindles.
For example, the FDA revoked the use of monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID, which have helped high-risk people fight off the virus and avoid death. Evusheld (which can help prevent COVID in immunocompromised people) is also being jaded by the new variants.
With government protections largely gone, many immunocompromised people are faced with the choice of risking their health in the outside world or remaining isolated.
“For someone who is immunocompromised, COVID can be a death sentence or [result in] hospital stay for days, weeks or months,” says Greg.
While members can meet in person, Greg has only done so once. He met someone from the construction site in a park. Since it was outside and they were far enough apart, they both felt safe not wearing masks.
But because of the danger COVID poses to him, Greg usually plays Cards Against Humanity with other members, exchanges messages, and attends group meetings that give people a chance to talk about how the pandemic is affecting their lives.
While many of the individuals who took part in the group are immunocompromised, not all are. This is one of the hallmarks of COVID Meetups – it brings people together with the goal of avoiding infection or re-infection with COVID.
A middle way
COVID Meetups founders Debashish and Emily Shaw, both Switzerland-based software developers, wanted to give their young child the opportunity to socialize with COVID precautions. Emily, who created most of the site, says it strikes a balance between isolation and risk-taking.
Since launching COVID Meetups in late December 2021, it has attracted parents like the Shaws, as well as long-distance COVID drivers, the immunocompromised, and those who continue to take precautions against COVID.
“We get texts all the time from people saying, ‘That [the site] is wonderful,’” says Debashish.
Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist who warned the world about COVID in January 2020 and co-founder of the World Health Network (which owns and operates Covid Meetups), says he believes the site will exist “as long as COVID is clear and current Danger.”
hope and connection
Like Greg, Susanna Speier has found a sense of community with COVID Meetups. She is immunocompromised due to the medication she is taking to treat her Crohn’s disease.
Since joining, Speier has been regularly emailing and texting a new friend from the website (who isn’t immunocompromised) whom she met in person outside. They also update each other on local happenings with COVID precautions.
“This connection was really a gift from the platform, as similar COVID-safe practices don’t necessarily lead to friendship, and in this case it did,” she says.
Another member recently reached out to Speier about starting a group on COVID meetups for people in Colorado, where she lives. Speier is excited about this new connection because they might be able to work together on a work project. But more than the career opportunity is the fact that she doesn’t have to expend energy trying to convince him – or the group – to take COVID precautions.
The Colorado group now has 40 members and they have been messaging people to follow on social media to keep up with COVID developments, shared resources on COVID safe places in Colorado and held some online meetings . While COVID Meetups isn’t a perfect site (some members have complained about the limitations of their chat functionality and can’t videoconference), it has given hope and connection to people like Greg and Speier.
“You can have a really fun and inspiring life with people who are COVID-safe,” says Speier.
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