Man, there are a lot of people on the streets. At least in Harlem, anyway. I know that I said this on Monday, but I did assume that it was due to schools opening up again, and every parent and guardian wanted to walk their kid to class. And walking to school this morning, there were kids and parents everywhere. Again, not real surprised. But, after I dropped the kid off, I had an errand to run which took me away from the school and our building.
And good lord, there are people everywhere. It honestly felt like a pre-Pandemic amount of people on the streets. About half the people were in masks, and full disclosure, I only put my mask on if I go into a building or store, as I am fully vaccinated.
Logically, I know that New York State, New York City, Manhattan, and Harlem have high vaccination rates, and low Covid infection rates. It could be better, sure, but compared to other parts of this country – we’re doing pretty well, and in that sense, relatively safe.
Now, emotionally, I find myself uncomfortable being around this many people. Even when we were on vacation in Maine, only three times in that week were we around large amounts of people; Freeport, Portland, and Old Orchard Beach. The rest of the time, we were away from crowds and on our own. Now, I see buses full, subway cars filling up, and people right up against each other in stores. I can take about two hours of this, but any more time after that, I begin to creep myself out.
At some point, we are going to be at herd immunity. At some point, life will kind’a be normal. At some point, I will have to go out and find a job, which will mean being near people for about eight hours a day. This is coming, and it is a good thing. What I am seeing now in myself is that there will need to be some work on my end to become comfortable with it.
It will just take some time.
