Brace yourselves (Picture: Getty/Metro.co.uk)
What’s the first thing you’re going to do when lockdown is over?
Go to the pub and down a load of pints? Have a non-illegal picnic? Cheat on your loving partner?
Some experts in the world of affairs predict that an ‘explosion’ of affairs is on the horizon as coronavirus restrictions ease – and they say that cheating has already started to pick up.
A new survey of 2,000 people from Illicit Encounters (yes, the dating website specifically for affairs, so don’t assume the findings are representative of all daters in the world) has found that there’s been a surge in people signing up to look for affairs in the past month, and that 74% of users say they’ll start sleeping with people again once all the over-50s have been vaccinated by April.
The experts behind the site reckon that the rollout of the vaccine is reducing people’s worries about breaking Covid-19 restrictions, which will result in more extra-marital sex happening in the next season.
The survey found that 86% of people having affairs said they felt ‘more relaxed’ about breaking lockdown now the vaccine rollout was happening.
Some people aren’t even waiting for everyone to be vaccinated – they’ve already used the arrival of the vaccine as an excuse to get going again.
A third of those surveyed said they had gone to a partner’s house specifically for sex during lockdown, and 44% of under-30s said they’d broken the rules by having sex with someone not in their household.
Less than half of those questioned (46%) said they felt guilty about breaking the restrictions, and pointed to missing physical intimacy as a major source of motivation.
The top five reasons given for breaking out of lockdown for sex were missing physical intimacy, having cyber sex and wanting to meet for real, meeting for a walk and ending up having sex, the excitement of meeting someone new, and booze making people forget about the rules.
Apparently some people have already been breaking lockdown to indulge in affairs (Picture: Getty Images/Westend61)
Saleswoman Mel, 31, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, started a new affair just before Valentine’s Day as the vaccine roll-out gathered pace.
She said: ‘We have all been locked in prison for too long.
‘I decided my mental health was more important and have no regrets about breaking lockdown. I have been tested and am very careful about who I meet.
‘I have had sex with two men in breach of lockdown in the last year – both times the sex was amazing.
‘The first time was over last summer when we met a few times for sex in parks and beauty spots.
‘I found a new lover in January and we have been meeting at my place for sex in the last two weeks before Valentine’s.
‘I am already talking to other men and will have more affairs as the restrictions ease and all the vulnerable people are protected.
‘So many people are longing to get back to life as it was before and lots of men are looking to hook up.
‘Life is too short to be stuck on your own for months on end and I miss physical contact with the opposite sex.
‘The first time I had sex this year was incredibly exciting – like losing your virginity all over again because I felt I had been on my own for too long.’
It should go without saying, but just a reminder to please not start going out and about and having sex with wild abandon just because the vaccines have started to roll out.
Coronavirus is very much still a threat and it remains illegal to go into another person’s home, unless it’s your support bubble or for work purposes.
Remember that virtual sex remains a safe option. You can also tickle that cheating urge emotionally, by just having romantic conversations and phone sex with people who aren’t your partner… rather than putting your and other people’s health at risk.
IllicitEncounters.com sex and relationship expert Jessica Leoni said: ‘Most of us have stuck to the rules over the last year.
‘But patience is running thin and we have seen a surge in interest in new affairs since the start of the year as the vaccine roll-out has gathered pace.
‘By the spring, it is going to be like a mass prison break-out as masses of people stuck with their partners for a year feel safe enough to start new affairs.
‘Affairs that are currently happening on Facetime and Zoom because of the restrictions will finally get physical.’
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