It’s Always 9/11: All or Nothing

It’s tempting. How could it not be? The opportunity to travel, to go to a concert, the movies, a restaurant. It’s been 14 months, I’m fully vaccinated, and despite the scaremongering, severe covid cases are way down since their winter peak.

Yet all these “openings” come with a list of qualifications a mile long. Masks, social distancing, hand sanitizing, you know the drill. I’ve become inured to these precautions when I run necessary errands over the past year and see the rationale for continuing them until most of the population is vaccinated and the infection rate continues to drop.

Fun activities are a different story. For all the media attempts to paint the mask as a new fashion accessory, the fact is that its uncomfortable, damp and sweaty, and one year in, makes me feel like I’m suffocating. It is hard to be heard and hard to hear others; difficult to recognize facial expressions. Social distancing is awkward and feels…unsociable.

Do I really want to eat indoors at a restaurant when I need to pop a mask on every time the (masked) server approaches? Do I want to watch a movie in a mask, or attend a sports event in a mask? In my last blog (Free to Pee) I described what passed for a “concert” at a local theater: masks, distancing, no refreshments, no access to the bathroom. We took a pass and had a great time at home listening to the same performer on CD–maskless, dancing, drinking wine, and free to pee.

Yesterday I read that Greece is now open for American travel. Greece is one of my favorite countries. Problem is, sure you can fly there, but once you arrive you have to social distance and wear a mask. I’m trying to imagine how that would work in a warm and exuberant country like Greece, where, let’s just say, social distancing is not part of the culture. Do you lie on your beach chair in a mask? Sit in an outdoor cafe (tables six feet away from each other) in a mask? How do you navigate cities and archaeological sites? And that’s not including the covid test you’d need to take and possible quarantine requirements upon arrival back home.

Any venture into the outside world comes with some risk. A lot of these protocols are no more than psychological props that allow people to feel like they are mitigating that risk. Covid viruses can travel way further than six feet in an indoor, poorly ventilated situation and putting on a mask when you go to the bathroom or in between munching on popcorn isn’t going to protect you. Travel always increases the risk of getting ill. I am willing to take on these risks, as the cost of living a full life, especially now that I am vaccinated, but not in this half assed manner. I’ll go to a concert when I can stand at the rail side by side with everyone and breathe freely, thank you. I’ll travel abroad when travel is once again synonymous with freedom and adventure.

Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy some long delayed pleasures where the payback is well worth the risk. We are flying to Chicago to visit our son, who we have not seen in a year and a half. We will visit our other son in New York this summer where he has an internship, and catch up with East Coast friends and relatives in the process. We will dine in outdoor restaurants and when we meet up with our friends we will hug them.