Where I live, I became eligible for a COVID 19 vaccine on January 11th. I wasn’t able to get through to a place where I could sign up until January 12th, and my appointment is March 26th, 73 days away. My wife and daughter are both medically fragile, but neither is eligible yet. My wife’s younger sister, who isn’t medically fragile, was vaccinated on the 11th in Florida. It’s great that vaccines are now available, but the delivery system is far from sorted out.
I’d be fine with people who object to masks on the grounds of personal freedom if by not wearing one they only risked their own lives. But that’s not the case. A mask doesn’t stop the virus, it stops the airborne droplets that carry the virus. So, a mask mostly protects people around the wearer. And you should wear it even if you don’t think you’re sick. That’s because some people carry the virus and are contagious without having any symptoms, and the ones who get symptoms are contagious for days before symptoms show up.
I like a phrase that’s going around my daughter’s office. If wearing a mask makes you light-headed, maybe you ought to brush your teeth more often.
It has nothing to do with the subject of this blog post, but my son and my niece are both alumni of the University of Alabama, so “Roll Tide!”
