The Pandemic Is Still A Thing

This past Friday, both Andrea and I had the day off from work so we used this opportunity to get our 2nd COVID-19 booster shot. Andrea ran a low grade fever late Friday night but otherwise we're fine.

I would mention I was super tired Friday afternoon but I'm not sure I can attribute that as a side affect of the booster shot since I'm always super tired.  

So far, Andrea and I have been injected 4 times, twice for the original vaccine and twice now for boosters.  We're doing our part to make to try to bring this damn pandemic to an end. 

But sadly, two years in, it's still a thing. 

People are still testing positive.

People are still getting sick.

People are still dying. 

Of course, having vaccines and boosters doesn't mean people will not test positive, get sick or die but it does help mitigate risks. 

Getting vaccinated means you're less likely to get the disease.

If you do get the disease, getting vaccinated means you're less likely to get sick.

If you do get sick, getting vaccinated means you're less likely to die.

If you do die, well... I got nothing. Sometimes shit happens.

There are still right wing nut cases who are against getting vaccinated for any number of goofball reasons, citing vaccines lack of infallibility as proof of their misguided views. 

These same people are still pushing hard against wearing masks and recently scored a win when a judge recently issued a ruling that masks could not longer be mandated for use on mass transit like trains, buses and airplanes. 

The judge who made the ruling was a Trump appointee who prior to her being made a judge was labeled as unfit for the post by the American Bar Association citing her complete lack of any trial experience in a court.

And the gist of her ruling was not based on any point of law but on the opinion that "Eww! Masks are nasty!" 

Between resistance to vaccines (34% of adults in North Carolina are still not vaccinated) and masks, the pandemic is still a thing. 

Andrea has been informing me that are church has had a wave of COVID-19 with several members testing positive and getting sick.  Mostly in the wake of this year's Passover Sunday service.  

Andrea continues to attend church virtually online because she still can't trust people there to do what they can and should to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.   

(I'm using my Sunday mornings to catch up on the TV shows I personally watch as opposed to the shows I watch with Andrea.)  

Even with no mask mandates in our county, Andrea still wears her mask everywhere. Ostensibly, it's because she has asthma so getting COVID would be particularly bad for her. But mostly she's just afraid of everything. 

I carry my mask with me all the time but I do not wear it all the time. I will put it on where I am with other people in a small environment or a business that actively encourages mask use.

Acme Comics is a good example of this. It's a fairly busy shop but it's also rather small which means being close to other people is rather inevitable. Store manager Jermaine actively urges people to wear a mask so I do. It's his store and it makes sense to me.   

But we share this world with people who are actively opposed to any measures to lesson our risks. 

Which is why sadly the pandemic is still a thing.