Maybe I Should Get Out More -- Maybe Not

It's a bit before sunrise on Thursday morning and I'm looking out the front window. I see the garbage dumpster still sitting at the end of the driveway and realize that means that I didn't even make it to the end of the driveway yesterday. And it was a beautiful day!

I did manage a couple of hours laying on the hammock in the sun, so that's good. I didn't even make it down the road to the mailbox. This morning I'm reading that the US topped 3,000 Covid-19 related deaths yesterday, so I'm going to say staying at home is a good thing! I should probably get out for a walk or make it past the boundaries of our yard. It will be near 70f (21c) today before it turns cold again.

I will be out for a bit this morning. Someone donated a bunch of blankets to The Venues and they need someone to deliver them to The Connecting Grounds' Outreach Center. Making a pick-up and drop is something I can do in a world where my volunteering has been reduced to pretty much zero.
Local Covid-19 numbers continue their upward trend and hospitals are stretched to the max. Unnecessary exposure is just stupid.

The new vaccines offer hope for a better tomorrow, but that tomorrow is still a long ways off. A Monday article in the New York Times compared the vaccine to a fire hose that works well to put out a building fire, but not well in containing a forest fire. What we have is a forest fire and will continue to require masking, hand washing, and social distancing for some time along with significant participation in the vaccine. The analogy stated that a 50% effective vaccine at September's infection rate would have been more effective than the 95% effective vaccine at today's rate.
Damn.

In addition to that, we still face a critical shortage of available doses of vaccinations. The US Operation Warp Speed failed to secure adequate doses and placed the US around 32nd in per capita doses on a worldwide scale. While we will be able to vaccinate most of the higher risk citizens and healthcare workers soon, risk will continue for most of us for some time. There is a real danger that we forget to practice the necessary precautions in order to adequately suppress the spread while we wait for the magical numbers to end the pandemic.
In the meantime, we wait.

I know it's holiday season. Stay home.
I know you want to gather for Christmas parties and family gatherings. Stay home.
I know you want to celebrate the end to 2020 and party into 2021. Stay home.
Let's do what is necessary to end this thing.

Have hope, but continue in practicing safe socializing.

John