I’m having a few friends fly in memorial day weekend contingent on everyone being vaccinated. I hope this isn’t a huge mistake. 
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With my second dose of Pfizer scheduled, I went ahead and booked my first trip in over a year. I had some airline credit that expires in June, so I’m going to fly to the other side of the country just for the hell of it (and because the credit would go to waste otherwise).
That hopefully won’t actually be the first trip I take. The wife and I are planning a road trip to visit parents who had some health issues once we’re both vaccinated…but we still need to get my wife scheduled for her vaccine first. (Connecticut eligibility expands to “everyone 16+” on Thursday.)
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I have friends planning an in person gathering mid April. I was surprised. I think the organizers are all fully vaccinated, qualifying early bc they are in health care or education jobs, except me. Not sure about all the guests. I politely declined, stating my vaccine status.
I mean, I’d love to see them all. They are my friends and I enjoy hanging out with them. But not quite ready.
why are you surprised? i’d expect vaccinated people to start doing this. they likely don’t actually know if the people they invite are vaccinated or not.
I’m hosting an in person gathering for mother’s day. It will be outdoors, and spaced out. I realize that some of the relatives will not be comfortable attending. But my mom has been desperate to eat with her family for a long time, now, and enough of us will have been vaccinated by then that it seems worth it.
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Surprised because most people our age are not vaccinated yet.
I do not follow the rules very well when it comes to my mother. If she wants to see me, I’m there. Masked but there. I decided early on that her mental health needed to be prioritized.
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gonna go see my mother on mothers day. she got the super powerful moderna in her.
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I’ve been visiting her some with mask, as has my sister. But my brother (who is higher risk) has not, and my mother bitterly resents that we wear masks around her, and don’t eat with her. She’ll be delighted to see our faces and have us eat with her.
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I visited my parents a handful of times. It’s hard to force myself to wear a mask in what I view as my own house. It feels silly. Thankfully nobody got sick as a result.
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We have made our kids, at different points during this year of hell, wear masks in our home to protect my spouse. I hated not seeing their faces, and told them that I miss their faces during those times, but the risks to my spouse were too high to go without that precaution (along with them isolating in their rooms instead of hanging out with us). I’ve only had one covid test, my kids have had 3-6 each. I’m thrilled that my youngest gets her second vaccine this week and that the next one up in age will be eligible when she comes home in a couple weeks.
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oh for thanksgiving, my mother and sister both got covid tests beforehand. i didn’t cause i’m lazy, so the risk was really only from me, and i had barely left my apartment other than for PT, so the risk was probably pretty minimal. thanksgiving was the one where we spent a lot of time indoors.
that didn’t stop me from being super paranoid and regretting my laziness the entire time, and i should have gotten a covid test just so i could relax there and not think i’m gonna kill my entire family, but i digress.
So, I’d like to think about traveling again, as I said earlier we booked Maui in July. MathWoman and I will be fully vaccinated by Apr 17, but our son (age 13) won’t be for however long. And I feel like, on balance, traveling is worth it.
Some countries (Iceland, Georgia, Ecuador, maybe Estonia?, and probably others) are allowing vaccinated folks in. There will be continued debate of vaccine passports and what constitutes proof of being vaccinated.
Has anyone seen evidence of any countries allowing tourists if the parents are vaccinated, but the kids aren’t? Our son is 13 so it’ll be a while before he gets it - I assume it’ll likely get approved for kids but maybe it doesn’t for whatever reason.
“Son, let me tell you about this great summer camp you’re going to, in July…”
Anywho, Hawaii just opened up vaccinations for… 60 and older! They seem to be quite behind there. Not sure if it’s because of not getting enough vaccines or what-have-you. 1000+ people were vaccinated at the Kaiser in Wailuku on Maui. So, some progress.
Hawaii also separates tourists from locals in their COVID counts, which is probably necessary.
Hawaii has administered 600000 doses so far, 1.4 million people live there. Not sure what to compare with, though. In most cases, two doses are needed, so “doses” doesn’t seem to be a cromulent statistic. Need Fully Vaccinated, and One-Of-Two Vaccinated separated imo.
27% of Hawaiians have received at least one dose. Should increase by July.
Found the important stat: 400 new cases per 100000 in parts of Maui (more densely populated). That’s, like, NYC bad. The touristy areas (West and South) aren’t that high, but I’m guessing the high area is where a lot of the tourist industry workers live.
This website has maps (not easy to find imo) by ZIP Code of cases per 100000.
Wow, Maui is currently the worst place to be in HI. Can I change my flight to Molokai?
Seriously, I think/hope by July things have improved, and with 2/3 of my household vaccinated (and maybe our son by then, who knows?) I’m feeling optimistic still. We’ll be staying at an AirBNB, not a hotel, which should limit exposure a bit. And we are staying in Kihei, much less crowded than Lahaina, but not as sparsely populated as Hana.
Interesting because based on this: COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker: How Many People Have Been Vaccinated In The U.S.? : Shots - Health News : NPR Hawaii is 18.3% fully vaccinated, 31.0% at least one dose. That’s ahead of average in the US on both counts. Ranked 10th best fully vaccinated state, and 13th best on at least one dose.
I’m guessing lots of old people, maybe? They keep crawling out of the woodwork!!
I feel safer every day watching the vaccine counts go up.
I’m still about a month or 2 away from mine. But its nice to know that ~30% of people here got at least 1 shot and maybe another 15% have some kind of temp immunity from actual infection. That is a significantly reduced risk for me when out in public.
Variants of the virus look scary on paper, but cant let those hold you back from living once you get vaccinated.
1 thing I can think of: I would like to ride the train again.
I’ve been watching those stats on a few websites. (they all have the same underlying data.) The theme is that states that have a higher uptake of vaccine have been slower to expand their eligible categories. All the states are trying to open to enough people to keep all the vaccination cites fully booked, but not completely overwhelm the booking systems. So states where fewer people want to be vaccinated are opening to more people faster.
It paradoxical, but the states that have opened it to fewer people are doing better overall in getting vaccines into arms than those that have opened it to more people.
2nd stab just completed. Waiting my 15 minutes no panic attacks yet. Thus one actually was a tad painful. Hardly felt the first one.
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