'No One in My Family Has Ever Gotten COVID—Here's Exactly What We Do'
The first reported COVID-19 case in the U.S. occurred on Jan. 21, 2020. Since then, there have been 103,802,702 (as of July 31, 2024), according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Those are just the ones that have been reported. For several reasons, we don't know precisely how many cases of COVID-19 have occurred in the U.S., including the fact that at-home test results don't need to be reported.
Interestingly, throughout the pandemic and even as we caught other viruses, my entire family has managed to dodge COVID-19. This family includes two young children ("germ buckets," as parents of little ones lovingly refer to them), my mother who watches my children, and my husband, a lawyer who has worked in high-traffic courthouses even during surges. We're what—and I was today-years-old when I learned this was a term—people call "NOVIDs" and "super-dodgers."
It's unclear how many others fit this bill. Older data from the CDC suggested that 1 in 4 older teens and adults in the U.S. had skirted COVID-19, but that was only through the end of 2022. Time and new variants like FLiRT have likely changed that. Scientists are still trying to determine what helps people avoid getting COVID-19. One 2024 Nature study involved intentionally infecting people with COVID-19 and found that people with more activity in the obscure immunity gene HLA-DQA2 were less likely to get the virus.
I have no idea if we hit the gene-pool jackpot. What I do know is that we continue to take some common-sense precautions. As COVID rates rise in the U.S., I wanted to share our strategy to help keep you as healthy as possible. I also got a doctor to chime in with their tips.
First, a disclaimer: The culture wars over COVID-19 precautions and rules were exhausting to doom-scroll through. One sad, little-discussed feeling was that of failure—moral failure, even—if a person got COVID. Maybe this is easy for me to say, but I don't think I'm better than anyone who has gotten COVID. There's luck and privilege involved, including my ability to work from home and my mother watching my children (read: No daycare. My oldest has attended school for the last two years, but the days are short). My point here is not to point fingers or stand on a soapbox but rather bump up precaution reminders for anyone who cares to listen.
With that said, here's everything my family and I have done to avoid getting COVID-19.
Related: 'I'm an Infectious Disease Expert, and This Is the Most Commonly Overlooked COVID Symptom Right Now'
5 Steps My 'NOVID' Family Takes
1. We never, never skip our vaccines
Every member of our family gets vaccinated. Our children got the COVID vaccine as soon as they became eligible and we could find an appointment, and they have received annual boosters. They haven't been easy to track down, as CVS doesn't vaccinate children under three (and regulations vary), but we've made it work.
Since my mom, Mary Beth Purcell, is over 65, she's received more vaccinations than my husband and I have. As for he and I, we differ on many things, but we both use the same two-birds-with-one-stone strategy when it's our turn to roll up our sleeves: "I make sure never to skip the now once-a-year requirement of getting a COVID vaccine (I get them along with my flu shots at the pharmacy)," says my husband, Pete Mayer.
For what it's worth, I got my initial series for COVID-19 shortly before becoming pregnant and a booster for COVID-19 when I was in the third trimester with my second child (born healthy two months later). I continue to nurse him at two-and-a-half and also got him vaccinated. Hopefully, he's gotten some extra immunity over the years.
The CDC recommends lactating people who provide human milk to babies six months and older so that they receive their vaccines as scheduled. It also cites data that mRNA traces in human milk might protect babies. The CDC also states that pregnant people are at a higher risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes, and vaccines are a way to protect against those.
2. We keep one eye on the numbers
Listen, we attend parties, see people indoors, and haven't canceled Christmas or birthday celebrations since I was very pregnant in late 2021 and early 2022. However, COVID still exists, and we monitor the numbers.
"We look on our county website to see what the hospitalization rate is," Purcell says. "Sometimes, they give more details about cases. Otherwise, we try the CDC website."
I follow my county's public health page, which posts numbers frequently. When rates are high, my mom pulls back on chit-chatting in stores (something I didn't do much of pre-pandemic as an introvert) and wears a KN95 mask in church. This step was especially important to her last winter when a family member had a newborn she was heading to see for the holidays. She didn't want to cancel or, worse, get a newborn baby sick.
3. We don't shake hands
My husband is an extrovert (as I said, we're pretty different) who handled in-person court proceedings even when the rest of us were advised to stay home. During those days, he avoided going within six feet of people. Those times are over. However, he did keep a pandemic habit besides getting vaccinated: hand hygiene. He has hand sanitizer in his car and decided to do away with the handshake.
"I went to the fist bump," Pete says.
4. We avoid sick people
Another big one with us: "I don’t hang out with people who have COVID or have been recently exposed to it," Purcell explains.
Don't believe me? "I told my clients who were sick not to come to court," Pete shares. "If I saw they were sick at court, I told them to go home."
Unfortunately, this strategy meant I didn't get to see a close friend for the first time in a year when I was in my hometown for a weeklong vacation. They hadn't tested positive for COVID-19, but their partner had a faint positive, so we decided to take a raincheck. It wasn't what I wanted, but keeping each other well signifies a solid friendship.
5. We avoid going out when we're sick
This one doesn't prevent us from getting COVID-19, but we do pay it forward and try to treat others like we want to be treated.
"When I don’t feel well, I get a COVID test to be sure I am not exposing others to it," Purcell says. "I haven’t tested positive."
This means keeping our kids home from school when they're sick (and blowing through screen time recommendations like it's no one's business to survive). However, no one likes getting sick, and we don't want to be the reason someone else comes down with a virus, whether it's COVID-19 or not (we've gotten sick with other viruses since the pandemic, which was no fun either).
Related: 'COVID Tongue' Is Definitely a Thing—Here's What It Is and How to Know if You Have It
What a Doctor Says
My family and I aren't medical professionals and, like I said, have likely lucked out to an extent. So, what does a doctor have to say about keeping yourself safe during this surge (and others that will probably follow)?
"As COVID-19 rates continue to increase in the US, it’s important you go back to basics," says Dr. Luis Ostrosky, MD, the chief of infectious disease for UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.
Dr. Ostrosky says these basics include:
Avoiding indoor crowded places
Hand hygiene with alcohol gels
Consider masking, especially if you are at a high risk for complications
Get updated COVID-19 vaccines as they roll out, likely in the fall
As luck would have it, maybe my super-dodging family is on to something (or perhaps we just jinxed ourselves).
Sources
New COVID-19 Cases Worldwide. Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
2022-2023 Nationwide COVID-19 Infection- and Vaccination-Induced Antibody Seroprevalence (Blood donations). CDC.
Human SARS-CoV-2 challenge uncovers local and systemic response dynamics. Nature.
Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines in the United States. CDC.
COVID-19 Vaccination for People Who Are Pregnant or Breastfeeding. CDC.
Dr. Luis Ostrosky, MD, the chief of infectious disease for UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center
Mary Beth Purcell, a woman who has not gotten COVID-19
Pete Mayer, an attorney who has not gotten COVID-19
