I talked to my mom today. She got her vaccine as soon as she could and has been fully vaccinated for a while now as are her friends.
She is getting back to her numerous bridge groups. She has one that consists of women who live on her street. They even waited longer to start so that one of their group could be fully vaccinated. She’s younger, like my age lol!
They played last Monday. On Wednesday, one of the players called, she has Covid! Apparently she wasn’t vaccinated. A bunch of excuses, she has an autoimmune disease , so she needs the J&J vaccine, no one asked her if she had been vaccinated. As my mom said, we just assumed and you know what that means!
Mom says no one was infected. But some of the women say that they won’t play with the woman who was not vaccinated because of this. As I told mom, actions have consequences.
And mom said that her next door neighbor, the wife won’t get the vaccine, the husband has. How does she navigate that one? I told her to only see her outside and she will be fine.
My mom’s neighborhood is farther along than mine with vaccinations, due to the age demographic and her location. But I thought this story was important of how to navigate this tricky part of vaccination and getting back to normal.
The good news is that the vaccines worked!
I won’t tell my mom not to get back to her social life. She’s in her eighties and a widow. She needs to get back to things. The issue is how to vet these things. They thought people thought like them and thought that it was important to be vaccinated. For the most part everyone has. But not everyone.
My husband and I went out for our anniversary last weekend, to a nice restaurant with “outdoor” seating.
That outdoor seating was in a large tent with all of the sides pulled down. It sure didn’t feel very “outdoors” to us.
Fortunately, it was not very crowded while we were there, and the tables were spaced well more than 6 ft. apart, but it sure felt a lot like indoor dining to us. If we hadn’t both had our vaccines, I’m not sure what we would have done.
Last night, tried to make reservations at two nearby restaurants. Neither would guarantee outdoor seating, so we opted to eat leftovers at home instead.
I made reservations for patio dining tomorrow with a couple we haven’t seen in well over a year; could be two years. When we get together, we sit and talk for hours, which usually is not a problem. Just received a text confirmation from the restaurant which stated that dinner seatings are limited to 1 hour and 45 minutes. While our reservation is for 7:30, I am hoping we aren’t kicked out at 9:15, otherwise we might have to find a place for dessert!
Lifelong friend (full vaccinated) flew in for a weekend of golf and fun. Had a great day yesterday. Round of golf at one of my favorite courses (World Woods for those who play), grilling for dinner at my house. Cigars, wine, bourbon afterwards. Today we play another round and he’ll take my wife and I out to dinner (inside or out doesn’t really concern us anymore as we’re all vaccinated)
Felt 100% normal yesterday, except for my iron play !
Perhaps more testing would help nervous people here feel more comfortable? Because, again, of all the ways you can get Covid, one way that’s impossible is getting it from a person who doesn’t have it. I spent a week in New York City recently, before my first vaccine shot (which was April 26). I’d had a negative test the week before, and I was tested at my New York office once during the week. My wife, son and I went to a Knicks game, and they were only letting people in who were fully vaccinated or who had tested negative within 72 hours. They had on-site rapid testing, so we did that and were negative. There was no one seated near us in the arena (crowd was about 2,000, vs. capacity of 19,000), and we felt perfectly safe. We stayed in a hotel for the week, took subways and cabs, dined indoors and outdoors at restaurants; wife and son went to MoMA. I did another Covid test this week (my company sends at-home tests, returned via FedEx, to people who don’t work at the NYC headquarters), and was negative again.
So, if I took all those potential risks before being vaccinated at all, you can imagine that I won’t have any concerns about my Covid safety after full vaccination. The chances of contracting even asymptomatic Covid after vaccination are extraordinarily low, and the chances of serious illness, hospitalization or death are far smaller still. I hope those of you who are vaccinated can manage to overcome your worries and resume whatever level of engagement with the world that you previously enjoyed.
I’m having lunch with a friend next week. We’re both fully vaccinated now. We used to meet up once a month or so but have only met one time in the past year, when we were both waiting on kids taking the SAT last August. I’m really looking forward to it! It has taken me some serious thought though to come to the point that I am comfortable with the idea of a restaurant again. Logically, I know the odds are incredibly small that either of us will wind up with covid. But, it still feels like the wrong thing to be doing for some reason. I’m ready to move on and past that.
We have had friends indoors at our house for dinner (all fully vaxxed). Getting normal. What feels odd is them hugging us. I never was a big hugger, but ShawWife is an effusive hugger, but it also felt awkward to her. We called our daughter, a very bright nurse practitioner who is giving daily advice on what to do with respect to COVID. We avoided eating indoors with fully vaxxed folks living with their unvaxxed and not careful son, but she thought the risk was probably pretty low (they would have to catch from son, be asymptomatic and do enough viral shedding, so overall probably was pretty low). She also said the hugging risk was low, but she would probably avoid anyway.
She said incidentally that she has recently begun following the blogs of a bright young scientist (https://dylanhmorris.com/) whose blog posts on COVID are sophisticated and quite clear (Dylan H. Morris - Blog posts).
I don’t assume hugs. Even with family/friends that I would have naturally hugged before. I ask “are you comfortable with a hug?” And if they are not they can say so or suggest blowing a kiss or something instead!
Most people I would consider hugging have said yes. Still, I think it’s a courtesy.
I pulled off the quarantine bandaid last Sunday and went to reopening day at California Adventure. DD and I are both fully vaccinated and I decided what the heck. There were hand san stations everywhere and everyone wore masks.
(Note: I am a healthcare worker and spent about 15 minutes in a covid+ patient’s room today (in PPE), so I guess I feel like I’m low key spinning the dice every day at work so might as well go to Disneyland).
I was extremely careful before I was vaccinated (didn’t leave the house unless absolutely necessary, double masked with face shield), now fully vaccinated I am seeing family and friends indoor, taking public transportation, eating out (and indoor) and seeing doctors/hairdresser.
CDC and scientists are telling us that people who are fully vaccinated can resume a lot of normal life. At this point for many people, it is psychological for not resuming their old activities.
I still get a bit nervous when I find myself less than 6 ft away from people I do not know, but then I have to remind myself that I have my mask on and I am fine. I still wash my hands a lot, but I do not wipe down my grocery any more. I think I will always wear a mask, even after the pandemic, because it will prevent me from getting a cold/flu and cut down on allergy.
H was fully vaccinated last week. We went indoor clothes shopping for the first time since pre pandemic and saw friends in their yard but used their bathroom. I haven’t been inside a non family member’s house since pre covid.
I get that doctor’s offices have seen more sickness in the last year than one can imagine, but I am fully vaccinated and I assume my doctor and his staff are also fully vaccinated. I have a follow up this morning and received a text with the procedures for getting in. It involves texting from the parking lot, getting a “password” for getting in, etc. One size fits all doesn’t seem to fit in a state that is in the top 3 in percent vaccinated. Last winter, absolutely, now, it seems a tiny bit of overkill. Screen us , sure, but take vaccinations into account.
See @kelsmom recent post in the “Say It” thread. That is part of the reason protocol is still in place in health care spaces. They are protecting you, others and themselves. It’s such a simple thing to do to keep people healthy.
Today is officially 14 days post shot #2. I am so glad I decided a month ago to get tickets to a charity luncheon this Friday (outside in a tent at a fancy golf club). I am so looking forward to it, as are my friends who I am going with. I have also arranged for our first dinner out with another couple since New Years Eve 2020 (17 months ago). Same couple, we have reservations in a few weeks outside at a local restaurant that built a beautiful structure with a heated floor and tent. I do feel like I am slowly returning to normal socializing.
Not all doctors are doing that. My dentist does do the call from the parking lot thing but my regular doctor isn’t. I had a physical a couple months ago and there was nothing like that. Only difference from precovid was someone stationed at the door making sure everyone is wearing a mask. H has had numerous appointments in the past year and also hasn’t experienced anything like that.
, so she needs the J&J vaccine, no one asked her if she had been vaccinated. As my mom said, we just assumed and you know what that means!
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