If you're sharing air - wear an N95 or better.
If you want to get something today, 3M Auras are available at most hardware stores and fit most adults.
Here's r/Masks4All's wiki with mask recommendations for different health, sourcing, and size needs.
N95s can be worn for about 40 hours before discarding. They should also be tossed if they get wet, fit noticeably loosens, smells become noticeably worse, or gets difficult to breathe in.
Need something that lasts longer? Look into elastomeric masks and P100 filters. They can last for about 6 months of regular use.
Use Air Purifiers
You can make one or buy one. They cut down on tramission. Highly recommended for areas you share air (in addition to masking) - work, classrooms, meetings, etc. Clean air has plenty of other benefits too - less exposure to smoke, pollutants, and pollen - so using one in your personal space has merit as well.
Test as Able
PCR tests are far more accurate but at home options can be expensive. Metrix tests are some of the only viable options left in the US right now.
RATs - what most people think of as COVID tests - miss a lot of positives, especially early on in the illness. They're best for telling when someone can break their quarantine after testing positive on one - two negative tests 48 hours apart. I wouldn't personally rely on them for telling whether it's safe to be unmasked around someone.
Get Vaccinated
The COVID vaccine is mostly safe. It's not enough to totally prevent infection and transmission but it does reduce rates of hospitalizations and death. It's best to use it in addition to other layers like masking and air purification. Vaccine availability varies wildly right now, so look for local resources.
Socially Distance
The only person I regularly share air with unmasked is my qpp/roomate. We take the same precautions and have demonstrated we're reliable. Everyone else, I ask to test negative on a PCR or NAAT test before I 'll spend time with them unmasked. Otherwise I opt for masked outdoor or online meetings.
Here's a guide to putting on COVID safer events. Mostly written with larger events in mind but much of the advice can be adapted to smaller gatherings of friends and family.
If you're in the US, this site can help you get an idea of how much COVID is circulating in your area. It's updated weekly. Depending on your risk factors and living situation, you might want to scale what risks you take with regard to community levels. For instance, perhaps you run into get your groceries masked most of the time but when your area has high or very high rates, you get pick up instead. Maybe you go to indoor events masked normally, but you opt for hybrid or online events when levels are high.
Indoor dining is very high risk. Avoid. You could consider using a SIPvalve for certain kinds of events and have a drink or smoothie. Outdoor dining is hotly debated. Personally, I don't do it. If I want to eat out with someone I know has good precautions and reliably tested negative that day, I pick up food masked and meet up in a park. In winter, we usually opt for one of our homes.
I have a list of orgs who throw COVID safer events for inspiration and my ideas for online party games that don't suck here. Be the change in your friend group.
What do I do if I'm positive for COVID?
Bookmark this page. Download the guide. If you're not sick yet, read and complete what you can of the preparing your home for illness/COVID sections.
This section of my resource list has a few more helpful pages to read through as well.
Above all - rest. Like truly rest. Lay in bed, mind quiet for as much time as you can stand it. Rest is truly vital.
Quarantine and avoid contact with others as much as possible. Mask and distance if you must see others. If you tested negative on two RATs 48 hours apart, you can lift quarantine. Symptoms alone are not a reliable measure of infectiousness.
"So I'm just supposed to wear a mask and stay away from people forever?"
Fuck no.
The future that COVID cautious people want is very simple:
Clean Air for All. Cure Long COVID Now.
Some of this is possible with the tools we have now.
Some of it will require new research - fully funded and fast tracked.
Some of it will require investment - both public and private - to establish infrastructure we need and deserve.
Some of it will require us to establish new social and voccational norms around illness.
But it is all very much doable. How do I know? Because we've already done similar before. Cholera used to be common (and incredibly deadly) so we established water treatment plants and modern sewage. During the AIDS crisis, patients pushed for research that enabled not only their survival but to prevent transmission all together.
Companies spent a lot of money convincing people that mass disability and death was unavoidable. They lied so they could profit and thousands of people died who wouldn't have otherwise. Don't let them - or the governments that colluded with them - get way with murder.
Clean the Air - Cure Long COVID - Justice for All!