I am not throwing rocks. I just think you are deluded to think what your are doing is safe and that not getting infected is any more than luck. I also think that you are putting other people at increased risk.Since you like to throw rocks to the sinner, I am very curious to know what a saint person like you are you doing now? What sacrifices have you done to stop the spread of the pandemic? When would you return to dive? I'll be watching any post / comment you put out here like a hawk to make sure you walk the talk.
Personally I am staying home almost exclusively. I am working from home rather than my office and not traveling to the US for work as I would otherwise, which results in lots of remote meetings well after normal working hours and extra friction getting stuff done and transferring knowledge. I don’t take unnecessary risks. In late December and for a large part of January case numbers exploded here. The Kent variant added 0.5 to the r number and going to shops etc without it being strictly necessary is a terrible idea. Instantaneous rates hit about 3% recently.
In the summer, following the end of the initial U.K lockdown and when we were averaging about a dozen deaths/day, I spent several months living on an isolated Scottish island. Once they had reopened ferries, which helped keep the islands safe, I could get there by driving and not needing to stay in hotels or the like. Since I was visiting my parents on the way I completely avoided exposure to people for the weeks before loading the car. I usually live in what was one of the early hotspots. U.K. case number three or four walked into my local hospital and we were seeing doubling rates of three days. The upside of that is that people took it seriously, travel dropped 80% and pubs etc were empty even before they were forced to close. That has changed since of course. People are definitely at the “So what if a bunch of old people die? Open the pubs!” stage now.
The islands had had only 7 cases in a population of 30000. Even though there were almost no cases there people behaved properly, using masks and social distancing.
I could do the occasional shore dive and get out on a RHIB with the locals. I managed 12 dives over 10 weeks. I also managed some dives in Scapa, although that was riskier it involved a hotel, spending time in a car with my buddy. At that time both ends of the journey were in places with low rates. My buddy makes his living diving so I was happy he was minimising his risk.
Taking a look at the curve I was lucky to be in a low incidence place in the lull. The U.K. death rate is unlikely ever to be so low again, even when all the vaccinations have happened. At that time the US had a 7 day moving average of 800 to 1000 deaths a day. Since then we have had “eat out to help out”, special dispensation to kill elders at Christmas and the Kent strain so help us catch up. Real soon now we will open schools which is probably the main source of risk to me personally.
My next booked dive is April 11th 60 miles away. As of late March the local boats will be running for six divers. I will not have been vaccinated so will probably skip it unless numbers improve in a most unlikely way.