While many of us may still be under lockdown rules that prohibit going out to popular date spots (which are closed anyway) or meeting up with anyone we don’t live with, the truth is, we all have needs. If you’re desperate to get laid but want to ensure you’re doing it safely, a new study suggests a few risk reduction strategies you should follow, and that includes both you and your partner wearing a face mask in the bedroom.
- The study was looking at the risks involved in physical intimacy. The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, aimed to determine how likely you are to contract the coronavirus in different intimate situations. Given that we’re likely to be living with this virus for a long time to come and we will have to get to some semblance of a new normal at some point soon, this is vital and interesting information.
- Abstinence is simply not an option. As the study states, telling people to just avoid intimacy with others is pointless since it’s “likely to promote shame and unlikely to achieve intended behavioral outcomes.” Instead, they believe it best to balance “human needs for intimacy with personal safety and pandemic control” by practicing risk reduction wherever possible.
- Unsurprisingly, you’re safest getting freaky with someone you’re living with. If you’re living together and have been self-quarantining together (i.e. neither you nor your partner go out to work, you haven’t been spending time with people outside of your home, etc.) then have at it! Given the fact that you’ve been stuck at home with nowhere to go, chances are you already have been.
- If you don’t live with your partner, there are other things you can do. The study suggests that getting yourself off is always an option, as is using technology to help meet your needs, from video chats to texting and more. However, that’s no substitute for the real thing and it’s not feasible to insist that hookups are simply going to stop.
- If you are going to get freaky with someone you don’t live with, there are a few things you can do. The study suggests that couples “avoid kissing and … behaviors with a risk for fecal-oral transmission or that involve semen or urine” as well as showering before and after, cleaning the space with soap and/or alcohol wipes, and yes, wearing a mask.
- Will people really wear masks in the bedroom? I think it’s unlikely, but hey, you never know. Anything in the name of safety!
