Feeling Positive

I'm feeling pretty positive about things right now.

I just read that there is currently less virus circulating in the US than at any time since March 2020, falling below a benchmark of 10,000 daily cases that Dr. Fauci had hoped to see last September to prevent a fall wave. 

This weekend, my husband and I went on a real trip for the first time since last February. We had taken a day trip to New York City then, and we took a day trip there again. We were outdoors for a majority of the time, and even though we were with other people, we mostly did not wear masks. (We definitely put them on before going inside anyplace, and of course on trains.) I also kept maybe a little more distance from the people we were with than I otherwise would have. I thought for sure our greetings would be fist or elbow bumps, but there were actually handshakes and quick hugs, which was nice. NYC was a real mix of mask use - I was actually surprised how many people were wearing them just walking around by themselves, but there were also plenty of people who weren't. I definitely didn't feel unsafe, nor did I feel like I was personally being especially risky.

I am participating in a study on the effects of COVID vaccines on people with my autoimmune condition. A couple weeks ago had blood drawn to check my level of antibodies 3 months after receiving the vaccine, and today I got the results. While I'm not on any immunosuppressant drugs, I had been a little worried that due to my weird immune system, I might just have not mounted a strong enough immune response to the vaccine to create antibodies. Anything above 1 ug/mL is considered good, and my antibodies were 18 ug/mL! I'm not sure how high they go, but while my results were not on the highest end, they seem to be about average, which is reassuring. I will have another test after a year as part of this study.