RULES OF ATTRACTION
Singles share their guidelines for getting frisky after lockdown
It’s love at first sight . . . of a negative COVID-19 test.
As lockdown restrictions loosen across the US — and outdoor bars, restaurants and cafes come back to life — horny singles are daringly diving back into the dating scene.
But instead of the lax, free-love attitude of 2019, wary daters are setting rigorous rules, guidelines and boundaries before letting their masks — and their guards — down.
“It’s almost like having a conversation about STDs, but now it’s coronavirus,” says Samantha Fulgium, a 19-year-old Texas Tech University student who went on her first date since COVID-19 hit last Monday.
So far, she’s turned down two guys on Tinder who didn’t pass her virus bar.
“I pretty much said, ‘If you want to take me out to eat, you need a mask,’ and one dude was like, ‘Well, I don’t own one,’ and the other dude was like, ‘I don’t think it’s gonna keep me from getting it, so I’m not gonna wear it,’ ” she says. “It was a huge turnoff . . . like, if you’re not gonna be safe about wearing a mask when we meet for the first time, I bet you’re the same kind of guy who won’t be safe and wear a condom the first time, either.”
Urszula Makowska, of Brooklyn, was even more strict about her first appointment with romance.
The 25-year-old blogger had already gone on two virtual dates with Vincent, 38, in April and May before deciding it was worth it to risk meeting in person.
“We had an instant connection when we met online and just clicked,” says Makowska, who met about 10 men virtually while being set up on blind “dates” by friends and broadcasting them on Instagram Live for fun. Vincent was the only one who made the cut.
“All along we were texting, FaceTiming . . . and were really excited to see each other in person,” she says.
After Vincent returned from selfisolating in Oregon, the duo met for coffee in Soho on June 20. But not before hashing out some fine print typically off-limits before a first date: “We discussed that we weren’t being physical with other people before meeting,” she says.
Their union was equally out of the norm.
“It was strange to meet with a mask on, because the mask hid half of our faces,” she recalls. “But my first thought was still, ‘Oh, my God, he looks good,’ [and] I could tell that his eyes had lit up.”
After sharing a hug (which they agreed was OK), the pair headed to Washington Square Park, where they walked around and talked.
“Normally, I would have met at a bar or for dinner, and it would have been a little bit more intimate, but as of right now, I wanted a little bit of space,” she says.
The two had fun regardless, and plan to go on another date. As for any other potential Romeos? Makowska will stick to her regular roster of questions: “I usually ask people where they’ve traveled, if they’re currently traveling, if they’ve been going out . . . I think they’re things that need to be brought up,” she says.
Eligible bachelor Abe Friedman, on the other hand, kept swiping on OkCupid during quarantine while holed up in Seattle, after leaving Brooklyn. His criteria for meeting up? “I wanted to be reasonably sure they weren’t having orgies,” he says, adding that “taking proper precautions” like wearing a mask in public and not attending parties was preferred. “And no COVID conspiracy theorists.”
Friedman, 29, admits that he “wasn’t paranoid” about getting back out there because “I was horny and lonely.”
During the dates, however, “there was an understanding that there would be zero touch,” he says, adding that he usually met girls at parks.
He did break the rules for one woman — and ended up dating her for a month, which included lots of touching not necessarily recommended by the health department. They’ve since broken up, and Friedman is now putting his love life on ice to eliminate any more risk of contracting the virus.
“The risk outweighs the reward,” he says. “But if a cutie with a booty messaged me — I would be hard pressed to say ‘no.’ ”