So, the head of the CDC, who knows what she’s talking about, said basically, “Fully vaccinated people are free to go about their normal lives without masks. The data shows a really high level of protection from the vaccines, even from the variants, and shows that vaccinated people don’t get transmittable asymptomatic cases of COVID, so they’re not going to spread it either.”
People who are not vaccinated are still at risk, and should either keep wearing masks and social distancing, or get their dumb plague rat asses vaccinated. (Okay, I didn’t put that in quotes, but that’s what she said in polite CDC-speak.)
Social Media: “OMG!! Un-vaccinated people are going to be able to pretend they are vaccinated? HOW WILL WE KNOW??”
Me: Yes, yes, some of those people will do exactly that. And you know what? If you’re vaccinated, they can’t hurt you, only themselves, so whatever. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. With enough of the population getting vaccinated, even if we never hit the herd immunity number on paper, we will get to the point where the plague rats will be giving it to each other. That may be as good as we’ll get, because we are a stupid, stupid country.
I do wish they’d held off on this until there was a vaccine for elementary school kids as well, because it’s still recommended that younger kids keep wearing masks. I don’t think they thought that part through enough.
As for me, I will continue to wear a mask when asked, because it’s a mask, not an instrument of torture. I’ve worn them all day at Disney in the heat, I know it’s uncomfortable, but that’s all it is.
I took Sophie to the vet this afternoon and everybody wore masks. I stopped in Publix later and everybody was still wearing masks. We did not, despite those assholes on social media, all fling off our masks and scream, “FREEDOM!” because we live in society, and we will just do what makes sense until we are all, collectively, comfortable.
One that really dismays me is a youngster, the nephew of my d-in-law, one of those young men where the line between intelligence and arrogance is infinitesimal, you know the sort? He is a medical student, with ambitions towards surgery (of course), working on the wards at the moment.
The hospital is ready and waiting to vaccinate him, but he is going to‘wait and see’, before he decides to magnanimously accept the Pfizer. Deserves a good boot up the bum!
It really alarms me when I hear about medical professionals like that. So he’s in a hospital working with people who are sick with other things, and he’s “not sure” he’ll get vaccinated? If there ever was a reason to make it compulsory, it seems like that’s it.
My immediate family is all fully vaccinated, except for the granddaughters, who are too young yet. We were lined up as soon as it was available, because my kids and kids-in-law all work in public facing jobs. I just don’t understand people like the cashier at the supermarket yesterday, who doesn’t want to get vaccinated.
You work in a job with hundreds of strangers in your face all day, every day, and you don’t want to be protected from a highly contagious respiratory virus? I can speculate about where she gets her “information,” but it’s still depressing AF.
Here in relatively safe Australia, I still carry masks wherever I go. In the unlikely event that I have to use public transport, or enter a crowded, enclosed space, the mask will be deployed. So far I am half vaccinated (5 weeks post first AstraZeneca shot, no drama), but as an asthmatic 77 year old I’m taking no silly risks.
Give Sophie a good ear scratch from me! Take care of yourself.
Oh yeah, half vaccinated isn’t fully vaccinated. The CDC was very specific that only fully vaccinated people are safe to go without a mask in most circumstances, and I’ll still wear a mask when needed.
Yesterday I was walking into the supermarket when a dad and a teenage son were leaving, and I heard the dad say, “Yeah, but you have to get that second shot.” I’m glad he was on it.
The checkout lady and the bagger at my regular supermarket today: “I don’t know, I don’t want to get vaccinated.” Young bagger: “Yeah, people are telling me I should get vaccinated, but I don’t know….” They were both wearing masks, but Publix is now letting vaccinated people go unmasked, and I’m betting these two will join them. They can’t hurt the fully vaccinated, per the CDC (and don’t get me started on people who know jack about science arguing with the CDC on Twitter), but this means we will still have plague rats among us.