Love and Dating in the Time of Coronavirus

It's the topic on everyone's mind: the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across the globe with no end in sight. Now labelled a pandemic, this is a crisis the likes of which we haven't seen for a hundred years. As the virus has made its way across continents, the tally of those infected and the death count have both skyrocketed. This has led to drastic measures, with countries locking down and regular life activities, including work and schooling, being suspended, pushing everyone to stay indoors.

This enforced isolation can intensify feelings of loneliness, making you long for someone to share these hard times with. This might prompt you to question whether finding love is still feasible or makes sense. During a pandemic, what happens to the prospects of dating and relationships?

You might be surprised to find that the answer lies at your fingertips—online. With your phone or laptop, you can discover that although the real world seems to have paused, the digital world of dating and relationships is still flourishing, even with the coronavirus looming large.

But first, what is coronavirus? Scientifically-speaking, the coronavirus (CoV) pertains to a family of viruses that, when viewed under a microscope, shows crown-like (corona) spikes on its surface. The virus is zoonotic, meaning transmission is between animals and people. It can cause cold and fever and may even be the reason for severe cases and deaths, such as the one we’re battling at the moment.

In the past decades, we’ve seen similar coronavirus diseases such as the MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, but the SARS-CoV-2takes the crown. It’s an understatement, but this new coronavirus strain continues to ruin the world. Apart from a beyond exhausted healthcare sector, the virus also severely affected tourism, economies and work dynamics, and even our social relationships with imposed protocols such as community quarantine and social distancing.

The silver lining is that out of the many things the virus affected, your love life is probably one of the few you can still manage to find a workaround. People quickly found a way to deal with the isolation—online dating usage is currently experiencing an all-time high (see graphic). 

Even if many things in life are strongly affected by the virus, your love life is one of the few things that you can continue to do. Since a considerable number of singles are now using online dating sites, you too can quickly look for a partner and even fall in love again.

First things first, are you in the proper frame of mind if you’re still thinking of finding love with a pandemic on the loose? Yes, provided that you prioritise your safety first.

Love is a universal and consistent emotion—eras and wars passed, but here we are still welcoming Cupid’s arrow. The pandemic we’re facing now is indeed challenging, but the dating rules and means have changed.

But before we define these changes, why is it perfectly fine to still seek a lover despite the virus?

You decided you’re going to date amid the pandemic, but the million-dollar question is: how? Technology will gladly help you with that—go online dating.

With or without a pandemic, the market’s already saturated with various dating sites and apps. Each comes with unique features, dating intentions, or a targeted audience, so it’s not uncommon to meet couples who found love with these sites.

After all, it’s cost-efficient, convenient, and even quick. You can find love without leaving the comfort of your home—doesn’t it sound perfect for quarantined daters?

A few other advantages of online dating amid the COVID-19 spread: you reach quite many people with just one profile plus you still get to connect globally, especially now that traveling is limited or even banned.

To successfully date from a social distance, here are some steps you can do:

The beauty and curse of online dating is that you have a lot of people to meet. For mainstream dating sites, you have quite a lot of profiles to sift through, and this may get overwhelming. If not, you often revert to swiping left or right based on the pictures alone.

Now that you have all the time at home, thoroughly discern every match that comes your way. Read their bio, skim through their answers to personality questions (if any), and let them sell themselves first before you ultimately check their photo.

This tip goes both ways: stay safe by staying put at home and be careful of what you put out in the online dating world. Preventing the spread of the virus is still one of the best practices, so it’s best if you take advantage of the dating site’s functionality first.

Remember that the virus spreads through droplets; refrain from trying to see each other to either grab some coffee or “Netflix and chill.”

Also, another thing you should keep safe is your information. Keep all identification details a secret and don’t reveal your email address, birthday, location, and real name (if you can help it). Even with a pandemic, catfishers and identity thieves still roam around the Internet, so remain vigilant.

Staying at home alters your routine in a way that you don’t put as much effort into your appearance and lifestyle. But, even when you’re dating online, you still need to get a hold of yourself.

If you have a video call, do your hair, dress up, or put on some make-up. Do the things that make you feel confident and in control when in physical dates; remember, you exude charisma when you genuinely feel confident.

We’re living in a world post snail mail and astounding distances; everyone’s a call, text, or chat away. So make the most out of these advancements.

Before COVID-19 wreaked havoc, when you feel comfortable and confident enough to move on to the next stage you schedule a meetup. With quarantine and social distancing in place, go for the next best online thing. Chat or enjoy a video call with your potential beau.

At Badoo, for example, you can host a live stream and interact with several members at once. If you want to keep things strictly private, sites like Shagle offer free video chat services for all its members.

Whether it’s chat, Messenger, FaceTime, Skype, or in-app functions, flirt with words, hear their voice and see their face. You can still virtually meet for now and catch-up in the physical world once the turn of events calms down.

You know you have powerful devices at your disposal—through it, you can do things together! Catch up on a series and discuss after you’re done watching. Cook together and enjoy a virtual dinner date. Have a little R18 fun with your video chat capabilities.

If you’re not looking into having a potential relationship and are just in it for your carnal cravings, online dating sites that are erotic in nature are also available. Webcam sites like LiveJasmin are home to professional live cam models who regularly host shows. If you’re looking for amateurs, adults sites catering to the sexually adventurous demographic is your friend. Although it’s best that you don’t meet-up for a hookup session, the video chat feature at WellHello, for example, can be a reliable outlet where you experiment your sexual fetishes.

The virtual date possibilities are endless—whether in search for love or a steamy contact, all you have to do is be creative and make the most out of your online dating site of choice.

During this trying time, your safety is your utmost priority. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun even when you’re at home.

Meeting and dating other people isn’t impossible even as the threat of COVID-19 looms. At your disposal are online dating sites plus the millions of users who are also looking and craving for human interaction.

You don’t have to be lonely; browse our dating site picks to match up with a potential beau. If you’d rather have a steamy meetup, these casual dating sites maybe for you.