A couple of Saturdays ago, Hector, a Miamian in his 20s, bored after a week of self-quarantine, decided to download Tinder. Before too long, he began chatting with a young woman visiting from Russia. “She was here on vacation, but because of the whole coronavirus situation, she couldn’t go back home,” he says.
Miami hadn’t yet issued a stay-at-home order, and the pair wasn’t too concerned about social distancing. They made a plan to meet in person that Monday. But an hour before the date, she messaged him saying she had woken up from a nap with a fever.
“I was like, You know what? It’s not a good idea to meet up at all — at least until this whole thing is over. That really put it into perspective for me,” Hector says.
The two continued to message back and forth a bit — she was feeling much better a few days later — but Hector, not wanting to take the risk of catching or spreading germs, hasn’t tried to set up any in-person dates since then.
“That made me rethink everything,” he says.
Let’s just go ahead and acknowledge that being single during a pandemic kind of sucks. While others self-isolate with their spouses or partners, the unattached might suddenly find themselves feeling more alone than ever. It’s unsettling to see Miami, usually such a social city, feel so quiet.
Read the full story at Miami New Times.
Illustration by Maria Voronovich / iStock, via Miami New Times
