Back in the mask again. Sigh!

When the word went out that fully vaccinated folks were free to walk around the cabin of life unmasked, I gladly put my masks away. The three exceptions have been when I've ridden (rarely) on public transportation, when I've taken an Uber, and when I'm volunteering at St. Francis House, the Boston day shelter I've been involved with for eons, where they're required. I gladly wear my mask there, where I'm in a close and crowded environment, and where there's no guarantee that the guests - who are required to wear a mask, too - have been vaccinated.

But for the past few months it's been nice to take my walks maskless, to sit in a restaurant, and to drop into stores without having to don the mask.

As of this week, however, while I can still take my walks without covering mouth and nose, CDC guidance is now recommending masks indoors, even if you're vaccinated.

It was fun while it lasted.

But thanks to the refuseniks, there's been an uptick in covid instances and, while those who've been vaxxed are almost entirely asymptomatic or experiencing very mild symptoms, we can unknowingly carry a viral load with us. So, to be on the safe side, I'm masking in doors. 

In terms of safe side, this is 99% to keep the other guy safe. Not that I want to catch any form of covid, however mild, but the chance of becoming gravely ill with covid post-vaccination is small. Not infinitesimally small, but small enough to not be worrisome. But I don't want to spread covid to someone who's not able to be vaccinated for some reason, or to an innocent kid, or even to a lunkhead who's selfish refusal to get vaccinated puts us all at risk. 

I had figured that by mid-fall, when it was getting darker and colder out, I was going to be back masking in the grocery store, etc. But this is a few months ahead of schedule.

Sigh.

I do have a trip with my sister Trish planned for Vermont next week. Vermont is pretty much a covid-free paradise - the Number 1 state in terms of percent of population fully vaccinated. As of Wednesday, 67.4%. Massachusetts is second, with 63.6% - not that far off from Vermont, but Vermont apparently escaped the flood of non-vaccinated free-riders of the sort who who showed up in Provincetown over the Fourth of July to take advantage of Massachusetts excellent vaccination hygiene and start spreading Delta variant all over the place. 

Thanks, outsiders. Hope you didn't let the door hit your virus-spreading self in the butt on the way out. On second thought, I wouldn't mind if the door crashed right into you. Glad you're gone. Don't come back anytime soon.

On reflection, I'm being a bit too harsh here. Those P'town covid spreaders may, in fact, have been vaccinated but caught asymptomatic/limited symptom covid from a vaccine refuser - and innocently and unwittingly spread it at a crowded tea dance.

So please allow me to redirect my ire to the vaccine refusers. IF YOU'RE FROM HERE, GET VACCINATED. IF YOU'RE NOT FROM HERE, STAY THE HELL OUT. 

Anyway, I'm hoping that Vermont will welcome us. I will pack some masks and my vaccine card, just in case.

Other than the Vermont trip, and a family dinner or two, most of my upcoming events are outdoors. Crowded, but outdoors.

Will I have to wear a mask to next week's Billy Joel concert? To my early September game at Fenway? Yes, they're both outdoors, but when all those thousands of fans start singing along to "Uptown Girl" (Billy Joel) or "Sweet Caroline" (Red Sox game, mid-8th inning), there'll be plumes of germs spreading. I may end up singing through my mask. 

Did I already say "Sigh"? Worth repeating. Sigh.

I also have mid-September tickets to the Woo Sox - my first trip to Worcester's Polar Park. Don't know what they sing there, other than "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"; don't know where things will stand, covid and maskwise, by then. 

I did read that the vaccination rate has picked up among the reluctant, so maybe we'll be okay. A number of Republican "leaders" have apparently decided that it's best not to kill off their voters, and have reluctantly but at last been coming around to urging their constituents to get vaccinated. So there's that bit of good news. (It must have been a tough call for them, since it appears that many of these treacherous, god-awful wankers were content to let the pandemic drag on so they could blame the Biden administration for its continuation.)

Anyway, I am just so sick and tired that we're being held captive by vaccination resisters. Whatever their motivation - political venom, sense of invincibility, conspiracy theorist, procrastination, good old stupidity - I have little sympathy with those who are f'ing things up for the rest of us. I hope that governments, healthcare systems, and private employers all start mandating vaccinations. Let restaurants and theaters start demanding to see vaccine cards. Sure, they'll be easy enough to fake, but it will be something. 

We can beat this back if we get more folks vaccinated. 

In the meantime, I'm back in the mask again, at least when I have to go into a store and pick up a couple of birthday cards. I've got my cloth masks at the ready; I have a good enough supply of blue surgical masks; and I just Amazon'd some N95's. I am so NOT looking forward to those fogged up glasses. 

Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.