COVID-19 Tests Before Sex. This Is Dating During a Pandemic
Ginny Hogan is a writer and stand-up comedian in Los Angeles who wrote about what it’s like to date during a pandemic — and how she safely found love in 2020.
“Is anything casual anymore?”
That’s the question writer and stand-up comedian Ginny Hogan poses in an article published earlier this year in The Atlantic titled “I Took the Risk of Dating During the Pandemic. It Paid Off.”
“Dating is hard no matter what. If you find it discouraging, have the same attitude you have when you’re dating during non-pandemic times.” — Ginny Hogan, comedian
It profiles the ultimate awkwardness of dating during a global pandemic — socially-distanced dates, COVID-19 tests before sex — and how her willpower to march forward with multiple video chat dates a night helped her eventually find a partner.
“At a certain point, I realized it didn’t really make sense to wait until the end of lockdown when the target kept moving so I decided to start dating,” says Hogan, who used dating apps like Hinge and Bumble to find a partner.
“It’s a really good time to be on dating apps because everyone is really responsive right now and going through the same things you are,” says Hogan. “It was a huge shared experience for us to discuss.”
Listen: Catfishing a widow. A long distance break-up. WDET listeners share their experiences with online dating during COVID-19.
From her experiences with online dating during COVID-19, Hogan shared a piece of advice she learned.
“Dating is hard no matter what,” says Hogan. “If you find it discouraging, have the same attitude you have when you’re dating during non-pandemic times. If it’s not making you happy, it’s totally fine not to. Everything is so much more difficult now but that doesn’t mean you have to let something like dating get you down.”
For Hogan, it paid off: She met her partner Sam, which led her to experience the joys and pains of a new relationship — all in a pandemic.
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