17 months. It has been 17 months since this pandemic started. Remember flatten the curve? Then, wear a mask, socially distance, hand sanitize. Remember all that? Oh, and, of course, don't forget to step right up and get your vaccine. Pfizer, Moderna, J&J....whichever one you want, just get it. So, yeah, where are we at now after 17 months of all of this? I'll tell you where we are at.....worse than where we were 17 months ago even after all these guidelines and vaccines were applied. How can that be? Well, that's a good question. Let me see if I can help you figure that out. Of course, I can only give you what I see from my neck of the woods but I'm in Florida so...Yes, I said Florida, and I can hear your reaction loud and clear.
We here in Florida, think (good time to say I don't think this, by the way) we don't have to wear masks anymore. So much so, that we just sent our kids back to school during a HUGE (yes, that big that it needs to be capitalized) surge of the Delta Variant (which might I add is more contagious and widespread to all ages than the Alpha version of Covid 19) because, well, simply put, we are Florida.
Now, two weeks after sending said kids to school without making masks mandatory, we (being the school boards) are having emergency meetings to discuss if we were maybe a little too naive in our decisions since staff and students are testing positive and/or being quarantined left and right AND the schools are understaffed AND the students at home have been cut off from a virtual option since we didn't need that either anymore. In their defense, our fearless leader, Governor Desantis, has threatened to cut off funds to school districts if they go against his optional mask approach to our school year. However, some districts like Hillsborough County who have over 10,000 students and staff quarantined in just one week have decided to face the consequences and go against him given the numbers they are facing.
So, as I sit here on the eve of our own school district deciding to mask or not to mask, I feel pissed. We did our part the whole way through. We masked, socially distanced, used hand sanitizer, and those of us eligible, all got vaccinated. We even went beyond that by homeschooling last year and forgoing sports and extracurricular activities. So, with our virtual option removed, I voluntarily masked up my kids as they returned to school and urged them to be as careful as possible, while I have sat back and watched the shit show unfold from home. I am so disgusted with Florida. In our bold attempt to be the land of freedom where no restrictions exist, we have created a hot spot where not only the students and staff are caught in the crossfire, but, the hospitals and medical teams are spread so thin that they can't keep up with the positive cases either.
Yes, plenty will argue, and trust me, they seem to love to, that we don't need masks if we are vaccinated. Well, we do. We all do because the unvaccinated are the highest percentage in the hospitals and we are around them. So, if we can't convince everyone to get vaccinated, then, we are all back to wearing masks since the rate of infections is so high again. The vaccine is not your bulletproof vest so you can still catch it and spread it and that is not a risk I am willing to take being around children that are not eligible to have the vaccine and are now more susceptible to the Delta Variant. I care too damn much about my young child and yours for that matter to not do my part right now as should you. So, once again, to mask or not to mask? That is the question. My answer (in my most frustrated and loud voice ever because this should not even be a question given the rate of infection right now): Yes, wear your f*cking mask (and if you really want to help...get your vaccination too) so this doesn't go on for another 17 months!
