Where are you? In the Carolinas?
Yep. Closer to Savanah than Charleston. I watch the sunset over Hilton Head Island and sometimes watch the Marine factory train young men about night exercises.
Down here we did respond to Covid. But only in the cities. Out here in agriculture areas we carried on as normal.
Yes, I agree. In my stories, I’m the all powerful deity who gets to decide everything (except for the characters I have given free will who continue to confound me). My point is less “what should I do?” (I’ve been writing this book since 2010 and am only half way through, so have no expectation that it will eventually be set in 2022) but “what are we collectively going to do?”. Will we start to see this reflected in our art? As novelists do we (and I include myself only in the broadest possible definition here) have a responsibility to speak to the times?
What I’m reading so far is a pretty resounding ‘no’, which surprises me. Although I must say that as a reader (the definition of which needs far less contortion to include me) that suits me… but then most of the books I read tend to have been written 1960-2000 anyway! 
I think the answer is two-fold:
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Yes, we’ll see the times reflected in our art. Processing difficult experiences is part of what art is for, both for individuals and for society. It’s also part of the process of creating art, whether consciously or not.
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But it’s too soon to know one way or another exactly what form artistic processing of the pandemic will take. Katherine Anne Porter’s story, “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” about the 1918 flu pandemic, wasn’t published until 1939. Toni Morrison’s novel, “Beloved,” about a woman who murders her children rather than see them enslaved, was published in 1987.
I also think the artistic questions raised by the pandemic are both more complex and more universal than “do people wear masks?” or “do people work at home?” Rather, what is our responsibility to our neighbors? How do people find comfort and connection when their usual supports are upended? What is worth preserving and what isn’t? An artist’s experiences of the pandemic will inform their answers, whether their setting is recognizably 2020 or not.
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My escapist solution, of course, is to stay comfortably cosseted in my favored milieu: the Coast-o-Maine between 1800 and 1900. But that doesn’t mean the country of the pointed firs can’t be peopled by counterfactual crazies and tin-pot gangsters masquerading as political saviors and grand ladies who, behind drawn drapes, are no better than they should be.
Masks? Ain’t that something rich folks wears to a ball?
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Aha! Dinner time! Excellent. 
You could also work the aspects of living with COVID into a tale that might be more difficult otherwise. That charming new dentist in your horror novel’s town is a vampire…but no one can tell, because he’s always in his dimly lit office and his bitey bits are concealed by a whimsical mask.
Ah, it’s good to see some of us Elderfolk coming out of the woodwork. These, er, um, New people are so importantly earnest.
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I spent almost 10 years in Western NC near the terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I loved it. Sparsely populated. Nearest PO was in a village of 250 people. I learned that Hillbillies were folks in the next county. 
On the other hand, I could imagine dating scenarios where the mask would be a bonus…
So you could go either way 
Especially since we’re told that wearing a medical face mask increases how attractive people are perceived to be: Face masks make people look more attractive, study finds | Coronavirus | The Guardian
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Yeah, if someone tells you that covering your face up makes you more attractive… that’s… I’m not quite sure how to break this to you… erm, not a compliment?
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我想，口罩，疫苗，疫情，这些并不重要，重要的是疫情的到来改变了我们的生活，和世界的某些秩序与观念。
作为一个作家，写下的文字肯定是受到现实世界的影响，我的的作品本身反映着我们眼中的现实世界，但文字不应该受到现实世界的拘束。
所以，内容元素随心情。
祝开心
English via Google Translate:
I think masks, vaccines, epidemics, these are not important, what is important is that the arrival of the epidemic has changed our lives, and some orders and concepts of the world.
As a writer, the words I write are definitely influenced by the real world. My works themselves reflect the real world in our eyes, but words should not be constrained by the real world.
So, content elements vary with mood.
happy
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You should implement 72.46% of reality in all of your fiction. Any more than that, it’s hyper-realistic and you risk crossing over into the “uncanny valley”. Any less and you’re essentially writing fantasy.
People often ask how you maintain exactly 72.46% at all times, and I have a couple of tips! One, it’s a rolling average throughout the book, so you can dive below 72% or even above 73% at times (not too far, however!) without completely breaking everything. Two, one rubric I like to use, along with “does this description make sense” or “does this dialog sound like 2 people talking” is, “does this provide me with 72.46% levels of realism”. You’ll find that often the answer will shock you.
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I lived in India for decades. It has 240 Million Muslims. Muslim women often wore face coverings. It gave them a mystique, they looked more attractive because you only saw their eyes “the windows of the soul.”
Seems like the Taliban agree. Looking more attractive is now mandatory for women in Afghanistan. Again. Taliban orders all Afghan women to wear the all-covering burka in public | World News | Sky News
In India the government is trying to do the opposite but the Muslim women are protesting. India hijab ruling: Court upholds ban in Karnataka state that prompted religious clashes - CNN
For the record I am not a Muslim, but I respect their desire to dress the way they want to.
Remember, it’s always the man’s fault. 
i think you mean there are no laws. there are lots of rules. for example…
how and when to use pronouns is a rule.
how to spell the word ,gravy, is a rule.
when to use capital letters is a rule.
how many times you can say ,f#€<, and still get a pg13 rating for your film is a rule.
you can break and bend them, but they are still rules and so not following them will have an impact you should understand before doing so. it can be used effectively for artistic effect, but done carelessly it just comes across like you don,t know what you,re doing.
but, i digress. you seem to have missed the op,s point… they weren,t asking what the rule was so they could follow it, they were noting that the world has changed somewhat dramatically and wondering how other authors were planning on reflecting that in their own art to add to the collective documentary record of our time. the answer from the limited sample of replies seems to be that people intend to ignore it unless it,s important for their story… which again for this small group it wasn,t important.
i,ve yet to see any mask wearing protagonists — save for the usual superhero types of course — filter through in novels ///or in the very limited amount of tv i watch/// yet, but given publishing timelines perhaps it,s still a bit early. has anyone seen any? will 2020-21 go unobserved / unrecorded in history from the artist,s perspective?
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