Online dating grows with corona-era search for love

If there's one thing the pandemic hasn't canceled, it's the search for love. Throughout the health emergency, daters have taken to apps, websites and matchmaking services in search of connection, with more meeting in person as the crisis drags on at a time when every touch is calculated and fraught. They're feeling resilient, and they're not willing to put a year of their love life on hold because of the global pandemic," said Logan Ury, chief researcher for the popular dating app Hinge. In March, Hinge experienced a 30% increase over January and February in messages sent among users. In June, compared to the same month last year, there was a 13% increase in the number of dates -- virtual and in person -- in the U.S. and U.K., Ury said. Some daters insist on safety precautions before leaping into offline meetups. Others take no precautions, relying on mutual trust. A lucky few are on the ultimate step, marriage. Look no further than Jordan and Brittany Tyler in Allegan, Mich., as evidence of that. Jordan, an adjunct professor of communications at Western Michigan University, and Brittany, who supervises a program for autistic youth, had both been divorced about a year when the pandemic hit. Neither had dated online before they signed up for Match.com. "When the lockdown happened an alert went off on my phone and it sounded liked'The Purge' or something," Brittany laughed. "I thought, 'I'm going to die alone.'" Both had dated their exes for several years before marrying. The two started texting March 18. They were wed by July after spending much of quarantine together after a romantic date March 24 at Jordan's place. He made gluten-free pasta from scratch and threw steaks on the grill. They watched the movie "P.S.