Mr. Jones

More people getting sick and dying (or living with life-long health issues) sounds like the very definition of more dangerous to me.

Big Dale, you rock.

I get it. We all need touch. We all get that itch. He says he keeps his table super clean. We are both going to wear a mask. The economy needs to keep moving, etc., etc., etc.
 
And that's all fine and well, except things are getting worse. Period. This isn't speculation, or mind control, or the government trying to take away your rights. This is life or DEATH. There's a new more contagious version of COVID-19 in the UK and now the US. In the Los Angeles area 1 in 5 people tested is showing to be infected. This is an huge increase from before the holidays.
 
Ambulances are no longer transporting people in cardiac arrest if they cannot revive you on site you get left behind. There's no capacity for people hurt in car accidents or with other health emergencies. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/05/us/los-angeles-county-california-human-disaster-covid/index.html
 
So, yes... come here and share stories and tips, make your wish list for when things are more stable, ask about your favorite eye candy, but think twice 365,620 times before you book a massage. (That's the US death toll as of this posting.)
 
And here's the thing; I know some of you are going to lambast me, and try your straw man arguments, report this post and try to have it taken down, but I really don't care. Somebody has to say this. We need to stop this thing. It starts with each of us acting responsibly.
 
Need info on how to keep yourself safe? https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
 
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This has been asked an answered a few times in this forum already. You're going to get a multitude of responses. Mine is this: is that massage worth exposing yourself, your friends and family, and other members of your community to a deadly virus? There's no massage where someone can stay six feet away from you, and even if you both wear masks (unlikely) there's no certainty that the practitioner is doing a thorough job of cleaning the space. It just seems super reckless and somewhat selfish to ignore all the science and press on in this reality.

As a masseur I may be shooting my own foot by saying this, but we can rely too heavily on massages to bring us back to fighting shape. We need to stretch more. All of us. I don't mean 1 minute of stretching before or after an activity, but 20-30 minutes (or more) of stretching or yoga 2 or 3 times a week. Believe me I find stretching very boring. I much prefer to have someone else rub and stretch me. However, you will stay on top of, not just injuries, but general discomfort and malaise if you stretch properly and, just as importantly, regularly.
 
There are thousands of very good stretching and/or yoga youtube videos for all abilities.
 
Stay safe. Stay limber

We have all either read about or experienced masseurs who do NOT have the best personal hygiene, home cleanliness, professionalism, etc. Now imagine that their failing isn't just an inconvenience and fodder for a forum thread, but rather a pathway to make you sick with a life-threatening illness which you will also expose your friends and family to. Yes, we'd love to expect providers to keep their studios as clean as a hospital, but the fact is most are not educated in any type of protocols for cleanliness, and you are taking your life and the lives of others in your hand for that happy ending.

Actually this is harder to avoid than HIV in the 80s. But it is like the 80s in that whenever you are intimate with somebody, then you are also being intimate with everybody else he has been intimate with.

No. There is no safe way to get a massage at the moment. Period. There are "safer" ways. Sure. But no totally safe way.

While the science is changing rapidly and we are learning more every day, these facts are not disputable based on what we know today:
1. You can pick this thing up and not know for 14 days that you have it.
2. During that 14 day period you can spread it.
3. The virus seems to throw different symptoms in different people and outcomes vary wildly. You do not need to be elderly or immunocompromised to have a very, very bad outcome.
4. There is no cure. If you catch it and survive you could still spend life connected to breathing machines, need organ transplants, etc.
 
If after knowing all that you still think a massage is worth it, you are indicating that you do not care about others. You do not care about the life of the provider. You do not care about the lives of those other people in your life whom you come into contact with. You are selfish.
 
This is not political. This is science. Zoom out. Think beyond your "needs". Help save lives and end this fucking thing.

No massages since late February, and since I’m not a fan of Russian Roulette, I’m not planning on any in the near future. I miss them terribly, but as others have said, won’t put my loved ones at risk. Stay safe, friends.

Which is a super terrible idea in the age of COVID, but you do you, booboo.

The big piece many seem to be missing is that the window for incubation is up to 14 days, and even people not showing symptoms can spread infection, so even though your provider may feel fine, and only had clients who feel fine, even taking temperature checks, etc. you can still unknowingly spread and contract the virus, which is (as a subtle reminder) DEADLY. Is that massage really worth it? Endangering your own life is one thing, becoming a spreader who endangers others is another.

It is very important to remember that when it comes to a disease as transmissible as COVID-19, the choice you make is not really a "personal" choice. When you decide to take a risk (regardless of your own assessment), you also automatically make a decision for people around you and the public to take that risk with you. The mask on your face protects others from getting in contact with large droplets that come out of your nose and mouth, and does little to protect you from getting infected by others. And although more evidence is needed, it is possible that the disease could also be transmitted vial aerosols. If that was the case, being in a room with an infected person (who could be asymptomatic) for an extended period of time, regardless of the use of masks, would be pretty risky. Even if you wore an N95, most people who have not been trained to use it and fit tested with the right mask would most likely don/doff it incorrectly, which could result in decreased protection and increased likelihood of contaminating themselves while taking off the mask. One should also remember that it is highly unlikely that a provider would be able to "sterilize" or "decontaminate" their facilities unless they operate in an environment similar to an OR or procedure suites in a hospital and have access to medical grade sterilization equipment and antiseptics. It is not advisable to include such claims from a provider in your risk assessment since they most likely will not be able to achieve the level of sanitization needed to mitigate the risk. The bottom line is that according to what we know now about the disease, there is not much you can do in a non-healthcare setting to prevent transmission if you're in a room with an infected person and having close contact with them for an extended period of time. Avoiding such close contact would be the best thing to do at this moment. Personally, I do not wish take a risk and automatically put others around me at risk so despite my need for some TLC I choose not to venture out and get a massage at this time.

There's some really bad science, incorrect data, and terrible advice in this thread. It's really shocking.

Thx. I won’t

Yes, they are about Alex.
Pass. Don’t hire him.

Stay home.

Speaking of observing trends, I have been following Effective Reproduction Numbers on rt.live website. Rt is a good (although not perfect) indicator of how effective disease control measures are in a geographical area. The numerical value represents how many people, on average, an infected person could transmit the disease to. The better the control, the smaller the number. The model used to create these graphs makes a whole lot of sense in terms of epidemiology, and you can totally see that the upticks in almost every state happened soon after reopening. I'm only bringing this up in case this website could be helpful for our members to monitor the situation in their state so they can make an informed decision if they are considering an encounter. The numbers are updated real-time.

Of course it's too soon. We all know that, though we wish it was not the case. The virus is more prevalent now than before. There is no vaccine. The easiest way to get it is to be in an enclosed space with someone for more than 15 minutes, even if they aren't breathing hard. If someone is willing to give you an answer you'd rather hear, ok. But you already know you are risking your life, the lives of those you come in contact with, and the lives of the health care workers that will have to care for the worst cases we create by not waiting till this is actually over. We haven't eradicated STDs and they are far less transmissible.

I almost succumbed to the 'need' for something tactile. But this thread has saved me, thanks guys!
 
'someone saved my life tonight sugar bear'

Yeah, this thread has been reassuring for me. As I started to lose my resolve, reading this thread helped me recommit to abstaining for now from encounters. We need to help each other stay committed to being healthy and safe as the pandemic persists.

Owing to many of my family members living places like Huntington Beach (the Florida of California as I like to say) it's refreshing to be able to come to a thread about this and not have to argue the logic and common sense of all of it, and why it isn't just a giant global conspiracy to tank the economy and make everyone wear a mask. Thanks guys!

Of course it's too soon. We all know that, though we wish it was not the case. The virus is more prevalent now than before. There is no vaccine. The easiest way to get it is to be in an enclosed space with someone for more than 15 minutes, even if they aren't breathing hard. If someone is willing to give you an answer you'd rather hear, ok. But you already know you are risking your life, the lives of those you come in contact with, and the lives of the health care workers that will have to care for the worst cases we create by not waiting till this is actually over. We haven't eradicated STDs and they are far less transmissible.

So much truth in what others have said here. We are still in the first wave of infections in the US; the geography just changed, and maybe the demographics as more Millennials and Gen Zs get infected. Younger people appear to have a lower hospitalization rate, maybe as low as 4% while for older people >65 years, it may be 20%. Proportionally, people of color appear to be getting hit harder than Caucasians but that may be amplified by socioeconomic and co-morbidity factors. But, all in all, the virus doesn't care who you are, and whether it makes you symptomatic or not - for its success strategy, it's better having people up and about and spreading the infections person-to-person, which makes Millennials and GenZs (our favorite phenotype of masseur) prime vectors for transmission.
 
We are learning a lot about the virus incredibly fast. But with speed comes a lot of preliminary conclusions that turn out to be wrong - a lot of headlines are coming from scientific preprints that have not completed the review process. The popular press takes the preliminary conclusions, amplifies them, and maybe politicizes them. Then when something turns out to be false, there usually isn't the same amplification of the correction. Or, if it fits a political agenda, it's over-amplified to discredit science in general.
 
I think we've still got a potential for a huge wildfire of infections, with too many hotspots. and a high pressure system building (red states, too fast relaxing of lockdowns back to normality, and general non-compliance with whatever the locals rules are), and a high wind warning (resumption of travel, lack of social distancing). Our air tankers aren't ready (no vaccine, no good treatments yet), our firefighters aren't on the ground (no contact tracing), and our backfires and fire lines are weak (non-compliance). (As a Californian, I love my wildfire analogies). A lot of people ignore risks and fewer understand statistics. I have a sinking feeling that late September and October are going to be very ugly.
 
So for now and the foreseeable future until this first wave subsides, I'm jerking off, best I can while my dog is scratching at the bedroom door. If this goes on for many more months, my thirst for human physical contact and my little head may take control, and I may get a massage. But it would be with a masseur that I trust; in SF, I'm lucky to know educated masseurs with some experiences in real health education, including an ICU nurse. And if I do get a massage, it will be much more subdued in the sensual nature than I usually am looking for. And then I will be extra careful about my exposure to others for at least one week, so that my risk-choice is solely on me and not foisted upon unsuspecting others.

For those of you saying "it was sanitized" like, how do you know? Did you see the provider pull fresh linens out of a sterilization bin? Did the sheets look OK so you are just assuming? Are we going on the word of providers who have little to no experience in proper sanitation procedures? Seems like we may be thinking with our little heads, gents.