Tag: #Covid-19

  • New Mask Rules

    So, we don’t have to wear masks, pretty much, anymore. That happened a lot faster and sooner that I thought. Not that I am complaining, but if that is what science is saying…

    I am aware that you still need to have a mask on for public transit, and I’m cool with that.

    The funny thing is that yesterday, the kid and I decided to take the subway to a playground because, well, we can do that again. We can go out and explore our city. We found a playground that wasn’t too far away, but wasn’t too close. We masked up on the ride down to the park, and I kept mine on as we entered the playground. I found a bench to sit at, and took my mask off as I can, now. The kid, on the other hand, kept her mask on as she ran around and made new friends.

    We were there for a long time, as it was a nice day, and the kid deserved some freedom. As the time to head home neared, I got up, and put my mask on the cross the playground, and then SNAP! The elastic that fits around my left ear snapped. I was mask-less, and I didn’t have a backup.

    What an ironic conundrum to be in. Only an hour or two earlier the CDC had said that masks weren’t required, but I needed a mask to ride the subway home. The easy answer was that I just had to retie the elastic so it would fit around my ear, but for a minute, I wondered when will we be able to ditch all the masks?

  • First Day Without the Mask, Sort Of

    As of today, it has been two weeks since I got my second Covid vaccine, which means that the medicine is now completely in my system, and I am at FULL VAX!

    This also means that I can now go out in the open without a mask.

    Which I tried this morning while walking the dog.

    And it was weird.

    Weird not having a mask on. For lack of a better word, I feel very exposed without it.

    When I walked out of my building this morning, I had my mask in my pocket, and I thought if I encountered people that were close to me, I would put the mask on. So, ah, that didn’t work out too well, as this is New York, and there is a person every five feet.

    What I ended up doing was the mask under my chin look, and when a person got close, I would pull it over my nose and mouth. It sort of worked, but I did feel a little silly pulling it up and down. I fully admit that I am now dealing with the social pressure of a mask, and not thinking logically about the need of a mask. But, in my defense, this is my first day, so having some hesitancy seems to be appropriate. Later today, the kid and I will go to the playground at the local park, and that will be the next test. I intend to sit on my bench mask-less. We’ll see if I hold to that.

  • USA’s History of Vaccines

    So, the more that I read, the more that I am coming to the realization that 30% to 40% of this nation just won’t get vaccinated. I really wish this wasn’t true, because I do think that creating the Covid vaccines, manufacturing them, and get it distributed around this country, and now the world, is actually an amazing feat of humanity’s ingenuity. But still, people, for a great number of reasons, won’t get vaccinated.

    The more I think about this, I wonder, why there is this anti-vax contingent of our nation, when 70 to 80 years ago, people got vaccinated in high numbers, close to 90%? In fact, so many people got the measles vaccine in the 60’s, that the disease was virtually eradicated in America. Looking more into the history of this country, when it comes to vaccines, sadly, we have always had some of the lowest rates of inoculation. Especially at the start of the 20th century, even though in 1905 the Supreme Court upheld compulsory vaccination laws in the case of Jacobson v. Massachusetts. Things really didn’t change in the country until vaccine laws were enforced after World War II.

    Before I read this information today, I had created this theory in my head that all the people who lived in the world before antibiotics, and mass vaccines have passed on, so there is no collective memory of what that world was like. That we are the spoiled children of history, because we don’t know what a world without effective and predictable healthcare is like.

    And that theory is wrong.

    The fact is that Americas won’t get vaccinated unless a law is passed and they have to.

    USA! USA! USA!

  • Post Covid-19 World; Death to Snow Days

    I have to admit that Covid-19 has changed the way America works, and thinks. Remote working has changed employment and where people can live to be employed. The pandemic has ushered in a different attitude towards universal healthcare. I also think that we all now know what, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or one,” truly means in practice. And as long as we are on a Spock kick, I will also quote him by saying, “Change is the essential process of all existence.”

    In that vein, we got the new NYC school calendar for 2021-2022. As I was skimming over it, looking at the dates of holidays and in-service, I saw this little addition:

    “On ‘Snow Days’ or days when school buildings are closed due to an emergency, all students and families should plan on participating in remote learning.”

    Yup, it’s official; SNOW DAYS are DEAD! Long Live Snow Days!

    I kidded about the death of snows days this past winter, as no matter how much it snowed, there were still remote classes. But now, the death of snow days is official policy. Never again will kids watch the news in the morning to see if enough snow fell to cancel school. No more will children know the joy of missing school to play in the snow! Gone now is the last hope of a child to avoid a test, praying that God will drop a foot of snow in one night.

    We have entered a new world.

  • Vax Fail, No Herd Immunity

    I woke up and read this story in the NY Times, which is reporting now that most experts believe that “herd immunity” will not be achieved in America. As the Times reports, a few factors come into play, such as a segment of the population’s reluctance to get vaccinated, and the fact that the percentage needed for herd immunity keeps going up as more variants spread. The end result might be that we will “live” with Covid-19 as a manageable disease.

    Well, this sucks to find out, but I sort of always knew this to be true.

    And I will say I knew this because that 30% of the population that won’t get the vaccine has been around for years, and now they are screwing it up for the rest of us. I know that 30% is made of people who don’t trust science, don’t trust the government, don’t trust drug companies, and also think this whole covid-19 virus is a big lie. Yup, thanks guy. Some of these people are Trumpers, but I also know that some of that 30% is made up of college educated people who still think vaccines cause disease. (I listened to an old high school friends podcast, where they still brought up how autism is caused by vaccines, ignoring the many studies that disprove that notion, and that governments around the world are covering it up. Then they added that climate change is real because, you know, science. Circle that square…)

    But I guess what really bothers me is that in the past, and I understand it did take some time, but polio were eradicated by the American public that was willing to get vaccinated. In that America, everyone was willing to do their part to help everyone. Yes, in that America.