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When Greg was in his 20s, he had no choice but to move in with his parents.

As a teenager, Greg, who is being identified by his first name for privacy, was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and, when it flared up again, his parents insisted he live with them.

“My family is extremely supportive. They’re basically my full-time caretakers. [It’s] not the way I envisioned my life, especially going into my 30s, but it is the reality of chronic illness,” he says.

Recently, Greg, who can’t work and lives with extreme pain and exhaustion due to his condition, learned about the website COVID Meetups. It’s a free service for anyone in the world who wants to socialize in a COVID-safe way. So far, it’s amassed almost 7,000 members across 63 countries, though the majority (68%) of its users live in the U.S.

For people like Greg, the site is a lifeline.

This environment allows for safe socialization, which is especially important for people who are immunocompromised because they are more  likely to get very sick if infected with COVID. Vaccines also aren’t guaranteed to create enough—or any antibodies against COVID, like they do for healthy people.

Adding to this sober reality, is the fact that as the virus mutates, COVID protections for immunocompromised people are dwindling.

For example, the FDA revoked the use of monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID, which have helped high-risk people fight off the virus and avoid death. Evusheld (which can help prevent COVID in immunocompromised people) is also being blunted by the new variants.

Since governmental mandates to protect against the virus have largely disappeared, many immunocompromised people have to choose between risking their health in the outside world or staying isolated.

“For somebody who’s immunocompromised, COVID can be a death sentence or [result in] hospitalization for days, weeks, or months,” Greg says.

While members can meet in person, Greg has only done that once. He met up with someone from the site in a park. Because it was outdoors and they were far enough apart, they both felt safe not wearing masks.

But, because of the danger COVID poses to him, Greg usually plays Cards Against Humanity with other members, exchanges messages, and attends group meetings that give people the opportunity to talk about how the pandemic is impacting their lives.

While many of the people who have attended the group are immunocompromised, not all are. This is one of the hallmarks of COVID Meetups—it brings together people who are united in the goal of avoiding being infected or re-infected with COVID.