NYT - Tell us: Have you been forgoing Covid tests?

Tell us: Have you been forgoing Covid tests? - Published Aug 16, 2024


It’s the fifth summer of Covid, and most people seem eager to move on. We want to understand the pervasiveness of the ignorance-is-bliss attitude.

Covid cases are surging, but in contrast to summers past, our lives seem to be carrying on with all of their scheduled programming.

Covid is still a serious threat to people who are immunocompromised or elderly, but for many others, a positive Covid case seems to be regarded much like the common cold of the before times, and some are abandoning their once-meticulous methods of testing and isolation in favor of a more laissez-faire attitude.

The Times is trying to assess how people are thinking about their own transition into a life where the disease is by some standards endemic. On days when you haven’t felt very well, have you bothered to test for Covid, or decided it didn’t really matter what respiratory condition was behind it? If someone in your household has come down with Covid, did you go to work, school or the gym anyway, despite your exposure? Have you found yourself purposely skipping a Covid test for fear of having your social or vacation plans canceled?

Please respond by Monday, Aug. 19. We won’t publish any part of your response without following up with you first, verifying your information and hearing back from you. And we won’t share your contact information outside the Times newsroom or use it for any reason other than to get in touch with you.