Well, way to go USA. We find ourselves in a totally predictable 4th (or maybe 5th, I've lost count) wave of the virus. Can you believe we have three functioning, free, and safe vaccines and we find ourselves in this mess again?
JO and I headed out to California last week for our first vacation since February 2020. It was a great trip. It was so nice to be away from our housing stress and to be out of our living room that we spent all but two days in since March 12th, 2020. But there was this lingering dread bubbling under the surface. Most of our trip was outside, but we did have to, and in some instances, chose to take some risks.
There were a few times when we had to eat inside. We ate in a super crowded Italian restaurant in San Francisco because it's actually hard to find a place to eat in San Fran after 7:00pm. While we sitting at the table, feeling a bit freaked out, we checked vaccination rates in the city and were happy to see that the city has 80%+ vaccinated. We also had drinks at a bar both nights we were in the city because we wanted to "vacation" and because drinks outside isn't really a thing in San Francisco. We chose a local spot, hoping it was fully of vaccinated locals and not unvaccinated tourists.
The day we left, the Bay Area's health department recommended masking indoors again because the Delta variant was spreading fast in the area. The vacation guilt set in which soon morphed into a "Sad About America" mood.
I should be able to vacation free of guilt. I did my job. For 15 months I social distanced, I avoided crowds, I didn't see friends in real life, I ate outside at restaurants in 15 degree weather, and when I was eligible, I got my shot. I didn't become magnetic, I'm not controlled by Bill Gates, and my cell reception hasn't improved. I didn't put the health and safety of our country on the line to own the libs or make the former guy look good. I did my job but because a whole bunch of people messed around we are back in a big mess. It's not a "pandemic of the unvaccinated." I take offense to that. What happens to the unvaccinated directly impacts me. If we let the virus keep burning, more variants are going to pop up (check out the lambda one, it's worse than delta) and the vaccines could weaken or no longer work.
We tried the honor system thing. It didn't work. It was never going to work. Going backward sucks. It really does. As an elementary teacher I get it. It's really hard to get stricter once you loosen the reigns. We don't have a choice now. It's time for mandates and passports or apps or whatever you want to call it. Let's be France.
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