Confidence

This week they announced recording the fewest new COVID cases in a year. Also, 50% of US adults are fully vaccinated (but that must just be counting people over the age of 18 because overall, only 40% of Americans are fully vaccinated, 50% have received at least one dose). The president's goal is for 70% of American adults to have received at least one dose of vaccine by the 4th of July.

I went to a couple stores yesterday, and while they all still have signs on the door about wearing a mask, distancing, etc., it was a real mixed bag of who was wearing a mask or not. A majority of people definitely were, but surprisingly many - both customers and employees - were maskless. Target was probably the weirdest, which is funny because for the past year it's been one of the few stores I was comfortable shopping in. I only saw 2-3 customers without masks, but probably 75% of employees were not wearing them. (I walked by a maskless woman talking on the phone while she shopped, telling the person on the other end, "Yeah it's great, nobody is wearing them here!" .. Lady, you are surrounded by mostly people in masks.)

But lest we get too confident, the Washington Post reports, “the rosy national figures showing declining case numbers led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to loosen mask recommendations last week and President Biden to advise people to take off their masks and smile. But adjustments for vaccinations show the rate among susceptible, unvaccinated people is 69 percent higher than the standard figures being publicized. With that adjustment, the national death rate is roughly the same as it was two months ago and is barely inching down. The adjusted hospitalization rate is as high as it was three months ago. The case rate is still declining after the adjustment.”

If we're talking about just willing anti-vaxxers being the unvaccinated people still getting sick, whatever, good for them. But the unvaccinated also include children under 12, for whom vaccines aren't yet approved, as well as many adults who would like to receive the vaccine, but haven't been able to (e.g. due to transportation issues, inability to take time off work, etc.). With more and more of these large vaccination sites closing due to lack of customers, will it become even more inconvenient for these people to get vaccinated?

From the Washington state secretary of health in the above article: “Things are getting safer for those who are vaccinated. For those who are unvaccinated, they remain at risk. We have to make sure that nuanced message is getting to our community.”

Doing Stuff

Last week, friends of ours were in the area for an appointment, and stopped by for lunch (delivery, which we ate outside seated 6+ feet apart on our porch). It was the first time in well over a year we'd eaten with anyone, and I could count on one hand the number of times we even ate in proximity to anyone.

A few days later, a local family member stopped by and we had a maskless chat (again on the porch, 6+ feet apart) for the first time in months. The next day, we went together to our local farmers' market - they picked me up, and it was the first time in over a year that I'd been in a car other than my own or my husband's (we were both masked, fully vaccinated, windows open, and it was about a 5 minute drive). We spent about 45 minutes shopping and visiting the vendors, and then drove back together.

Today some family members got together for an outdoor and mostly distanced gathering. While we were up and moving around, some of us kept our masks on, but once we were all seated, I felt comfortable taking mine off. (Then when another family member with young kids showed up, I put my mask back on because who knows what those germ factories are carrying!)

Full Speed Ahead

Photo by RODNAE Productions
from Pexels

It's just full speed ahead with reopening things and removing mask requirements.

Just when I was starting to get back on my acupuncture schedule, a family member who goes to the same doctor as me told me they are no longer wearing masks in their office. I have an appointment tomorrow, and my husband and I immediately had a discussion about what to do. We decided that I will keep my appointment and double-mask, and if I don't like the vibe in there, I will hold off rescheduling.

Just when I had started doing my own grocery shopping again, the supermarket chain announced that they were no longer requiring masks for customers (but will require them for employees?).

Just when I was comfortable visiting one place, a local botanical garden we joined last year, they announced they would be removing capacity restrictions and mask requirements.

Just when I was thinking we should reactivate our gym membership and start exercising again 😂 the mask mandates in our state started lifting.

But other places are still keeping their restrictions in place for now:

My office is still enforcing capacity limits (and the number of people on site each day is nowhere near the limit anyway), and mask rules, unless you are in an office or seated at a desk by yourself. I actually was in the office for a couple hours earlier this week, and even though I was seated in my cubicle, I still kept my mask on. Maybe I would have felt differently about it if I were sitting there for 8 hours.

A youth organization I volunteer with just announced they are going to restart in-person meetings, with permission of both parties, masks required, outdoors preferred, cars recommended against - but if you do ride in the car, the child must be in the back seat, opposite side, with windows open.

It's going to be a weird patchwork of rules for a while - I'm just going to keep my mask on for now.

Guidance

Photo by Uriel Mont from Pexels

I was kind of nervous going to the supermarket the day after the CDC's revised mask guidance. Even though our state's mask mandate is still in place, would it be a maskless free-for-all in there? So I was very relieved that every person in the store was wearing a mask - I only saw two noses sticking out. The young man who rang me up was even double masked.

The next day we went to the pet store. Everyone in there had masks on, but as we were checking out, a man entered without a mask and asked our cashier, "Do we need to wear masks?" as he walked past. The cashier asked if he was vaccinated, the man said yes, and the cashier said he was fine without a mask. My husband and I were kind of joking to each other about how anyone could just say they were vaccinated, and the young cashier even joined in and agreed, but even though they may have had personal safety concerns, I bet it was nice to not have to worry about trying to enforce a mask policy with belligerent customers. I know there are people who aren't wearing masks just to try to cause a scene or stir people up. If it's not a big deal and they're just waved through, it may lose its appeal.

Following the pet store we went to our local outdoor farmer's market, where again, almost everyone was still wearing masks. It was definitely less tense than this time last year. We even bought lunch from a food truck and ate in a little picnic area, with other people around us (6+ feet away) - the second meal I've eaten outside my home since last March.

There are definitely many concerns about the CDC's statement, and a variety of organizations saying it's too soon. If this was meant to entice the vaccine hesitant, mask wearing was the least of their concerns. If this is meant to be a reward for the vaccinated, most of us are still planning to continue to wear masks. And the guidance is to still wear them in crowded or confined situations. So far, everyone is talking about it, but nothing has really changed, at least where I am.

Maskless

Today the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks or distance themselves when they are out in public, both indoors and outdoors. My friends and I agreed that we will probably continue wearing masks and being cautious for the time being. And most of the comments on posts and things that I've seen regarding this announcement seem to share the same sentiment. My first thought was that this was another attempt to try to incentivize people to get vaccinated, although the CDC director said it's not, and that they are just following the science and data. I don't know - maybe, like I've been saying, I'll feel more comfortable when I see a sustained lower infection rate. Someone also raised a good point that as a parent, they will probably continue wearing a mask, because their young child is unvaccinated and can't be vaccinated, so it would set a weird example if their parents suddenly stopped wearing masks but they still had to.

I guess I should mention that the Pfizer vaccine was approved earlier this week for children ages 12-15, and the CDC signed off on it a couple days later. Some places already started vaccinating children following the FDA's approval, without waiting for the CDC. A lot of school districts are now implementing plans that they put in place to vaccinate students. If they start now, their second dose will be probably right at the end of the school year, and they can go back in the fall fully vaccinated! All my friends with kids in that age range are very excited to get them signed up!

And speaking of the unvaccinated, antivaxxers apparently believe that vaccinated people "shed" something onto them that will make them sick, so they are now talking about wearing masks around vaccinated people! I mentioned to a friend earlier, they're going to end up talking themselves into a circle and wearing masks and getting vaccinated themselves!

Lifting Restrictions

Well, my state just joined a number of others and announced that as of May 31, all COVID related restrictions on capacity, office closures, etc. would be lifted. And mask mandates will be lifted once 70% of adults are fully vaccinated. (This is obviously an incentive for people to get vaccinated, but at this point the people who want the vaccine have probably gotten it; and the people who don't want it, or don't want to wear masks, have already not been wearing masks.)

I hate reading the comments on the governor's posts because they're mostly angry people saying how he's a tyrant and they're going to vote him out of office, but on this announcement there were even a lot of people saying they felt like this was too soon and a mistake to loosen restrictions to this extent. According to Covid Act Now, ours is still one of a handful of states in the "very high risk" category.

New York Daily News

Experts are also now saying it's unlikely that the US will reach herd immunity through infections and vaccines, primarily due to the variants that have developed - and once again, the more people continue to get infected, the more chances there are for different variants to emerge. "Early on, the target herd immunity threshold was estimated to be about 60 to 70 percent of the population. ... But as vaccines were developed and distribution ramped up through the winter and into the spring, estimates of the threshold began to rise. That is because the initial calculations were based on the contagiousness of the original version of the virus. ... As a result, experts now calculate the herd immunity threshold to be at least 80 percent. If even more contagious variants develop, or if scientists find that immunized people can still transmit the virus, the calculation will have to be revised upward again."

Relaxing

More and more places are relaxing their restrictions, or announcing plans for reopening soon. The CDC has come out with a new list of things people can do once they're vaccinated. I'm still not planning on changing much. Yes, I feel more comfortable and protected doing the things I have to do, but until I see a dramatic and sustained drop in the amount of coronavirus floating around, I don't see any reason why it's suddenly "safe" to start hanging out in maskless groups.

This chart is confusing, and the changes they're promoting for vaccinated people are probably just an attempt to get more people vaccinated - "Look, if you take the vaccine, you'll be allowed to spend time in small groups!"