With just days to go until Valentine’s Day — the first locked-down V-Day — Tinder says twice as many people are looking for a date this February 14 than they were last year.
What’s more, those who are looking for love are now adding their COVID-19 vaccination status in their profiles, in hopes of snagging that special someone.
In fact, mentions of Tinder users’ vaccination status has jumped by six times compared to profiles in June, the dating app says. Then again, the vaccine wasn’t ready at that point, but the mentions have certainly replaced profiles where a potential match shown with a cute puppy are a draw.
“Let’s do [something] fun together. #vaccinated,” reads one profile, for example.
“[G]etting the vaccine has made me the most powerful man on DC dating apps,” another user boasted on Twitter late last month.
Most of those mentions now are from healthcare workers and first responders who’ve already gotten at least one of their shots — others are memes joking about how eager the lovelorn are to get their shots and get life back to normal, the dating app says.
Twitter also noted that since last fall, “messages and use of the Swipe feature are up double-digits from the end of [last] February,” showing how eager people are to connect, even if they can’t actually meet face to face.
Tinder also polled its users and found out that since the pandemic began, users have been looking more closely at a potential mate’s personal hygiene, and cleanliness of their homes, with one calling a dirty home a “deal breaker.” Another asked incredulously of bad hygiene, “During a global health crisis!?”