I wrote this post in a journal format, so when you see disproven theories and altered (by time) opinions, that’s why. Just saying 🙂
01/30/21 6.9% Vaccinated
Society- I am overjoyed that the elderly and infirm, especially those that have been trapped in nursing homes and assisted living facilities without being able to see their loved ones will be able to receive the Covid 19 Vaccine and stop living in fear.
I am thankful that our first responders and medical professionals have the opportunity to become vaccinated. It is so unfair that they have been literally risking their lives to do their jobs.
Travelers leaving the US will have to have a proof of a negative Covid test for re-entry to the United States. It seems like a prudent plan, but will it keep air travel rates down and further hinder the travel industry, or is it a necessary precaution now that the US seems to have the virus under better control.
I am so ecstatic and enormously relieved to see the inauguration of Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States. Things are looking up!
Family- Soon my grandpa can feel comfortable leaving his house again. My mom will soon not have to worry when she visits to bring groceries or help with cleaning. My sister will be safe at work as a Respiratory Therapist.
Self- I’m not getting vaccinated. I don’t know what this shot will do to my health and well being long term and there are no studies because they are all so new.
02/23/21 13.6% Vaccinated
Society- Now we’re getting somewhere! Most medical professionals and first responders have been vaccinated, so far so good. As more vaccine doses become available, those 65+ or with two co-morbidities are asked to make their appointments. The elderly are having a hard time making vaccination appointments online. Someone should have seen that coming.
The GQP seems to be sticking with the “Covid is a Hoax” party line encouraged by the former guy.
Family- Just the Respiratory Therapist has been fully vaccinated, it’s taking longer than I thought. Mom, Dad, and Grandparents have received their first shots. No one has grown a third arm or spontaneously combusted yet, for this I am grateful. 🙂
Self- I think I’ll hold out for that Johnson and Johnson shot. Despite the talcum powder situation, they have been a standby for generations in the United States. For me, one shot versus two is a definite advantage. I’m not too sure what m-RNA really means, but I know that it isn’t the method employed by J&J and I’m on board with all that.
3/16/21 22.5% Vaccinated
Society- The former guy admits he got the vaccine in January before leaving the White House. Surely there was pressure on him to let people know that he had done it. Even the hard core Trumpers take pause to consider that perhaps the Hoax is real after all. They gradually excuse Trump because of he’s their idol and master (lol). There is a slight uptick in vaccination numbers in Red States.
Things are starting to open up, there is buzz about being able to attend baseball games this year, the Mariner’s announce that Opening Day will have 9,000 fans in attendance! Biden makes the announcement that vaccines will be available to any adult in the United States who wants one, free of charge, no later than April 15th.
Family– Mom has ramped up the vaccine push and boy is she tough. It has become a personal goal that the entire fam-dam-ily through every feasible extension of relations get vaccinated.
Self- We are headed to Cabo on the 29th. While we have had the opportunity to get the shots, I am less than excited about the prospect of possible side effects while in a foreign country, and although I have the means to get a shot, I am not eligible according to current Washington State regulations, so there’s that.
04/21/21 41.9 % Vaccinated
Society-April 15th is the day that all adults in the US are eligible to be vaccinated. This of course will only work if the vaccine is available all over the country and can be distributed. I am pleased to announce that we made it. We are lucky here in the US that the rollout was so successful and the shots are easy to schedule and free of charge. Or are we lucky?
Family- Just about everybody in the immediate family has been vaccinated with the exception of my Rooster and I, my pregnant sister and the kids. Mom is still on the shot train, encouraging all of us to get vaccinated in that special way mom’s have of encouraging you to do something that you don’t want.
Self- Cabo was great! I highly encourage all of you who haven’t stayed in an all inclusive resort to do so. It’s very freeing. Many of the American tourists we met in our age group had just received their first doses, they were visiting Cabo from Chicago, Central Michigan and St. Louis. We were surprised to not meet many from Washington or even California. Of course many of the tourists we met were much younger than we were (Spring Break).
It was a little nerve wracking at first, being in a place that had buffets and swimming pools full of people. Things were clean though, very clean. Access to the buffets and restaurants was controlled and drinks were a plenty. Covid tests were given and passed prior to reentry into the US and a good time was had by all.
We came home to find out that the Michigan couple we had actually spent a little time with (and with whom we shared a joint, don’t tell the Federales), came from Covid central. Sheesh. Don’t act normal.
I am having grave doubts about whether I need to take the vaccination. The Johnson & Johnson shot was halted due to blood clots in women, one in Oregon died. This is the shot I would have preferred since there was only one dose required. I shrugged it off.
05/12/21 50.5 % Vaccinated
Society- We are so angry with the government and each other. People are beginning to travel domestically avoiding some of the crazier states. Which states are crazy of course depends on your political beliefs. The left doesn’t want to travel to Florida, Texas or anywhere down south for reasons I’m sure that you are well aware. The right wouldn’t be caught dead in Washington (Seattle is on fire according to Fox News) or California (Jewish Space Lasers are causing wildfires). Washington State is reporting that we have reached 70% vaccination of at least one jab, blue states are by far outpacing red states in Covid response. Why this pandemic became political in the US is a terrible shame. When we visited Mexico, precautions were in place but nobody was being forced are acted put out by wearing a mask, or having their temperature taken. Their precautions are more strict than ours.
It is becoming more and more apparent that vaccines are likely to be required for international travel and possible for domestic flights.
Family- Mom is now the undisputed queen of vaccines. It’s all we talk about. I understand where she’s coming from. She has a large contingency of folks that she loves and of course Grandpa and Aunt Donna, who are elderly and whom she cares for almost daily. She doesn’t want to be responsible for giving them Covid and killing them. That means that everyone needs to be vaccinated. It is questionable though in the news and otherwise if Covid can be carried and transmitted by vaccinated people.
Self- Here at home we are discussing getting them soon to get them over with. I am tired of living in fear and intimidation. Moderna or Pfizer are the household preferred jab, appoints were made for May 5th for first shots for both Rooster and I.
One of us chickened out rather than go. It’s ok though. We should all make our own choices.
4th of July- 61.8% Vaccinated
Society: The division and ridiculous behavior in the US keeps growing. Climate change is a hot button from the election, with many thinking that Climate Change is also a hoax. I sure didn’t think it was a hoax when we had three days in a row over 100 degrees in Western Washington. On the third day it reached 115 degrees. That’s Arizona people. Here in the Seattle area we are lucky to hit 90 degrees more than a handful of times any given summer. We literally wilted.
The vax war rolls on. Johnson and Johnson’s one jab wonder poke is back on the US list and available for everyone, with a warning that it not be given to women under 50. Both the Pfizer and Moderna shots have caused a few cases of Myocarditis or Pericarditis in young men. Rumors swirl.
Family- We were finally able to have a big Mafia family party without sequestering the oldsters and sick ones behind glass with a mask and a wave (flashbacks to Xmas 2020, sorry). 4th of July marks Grandpa’s 90th birthday and we had a huge BBQ in his backyard. It’s so nice to hug my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins again, even if I felt like I had to ask permission to do so. It made me feel hopeful that one day things could be normal again.
Self- I have now been fully vaccinated with Moderna, but it was touch and go whether or not I would get my second shot. The first one gave me a weird headache for 10 days. A headache that moved around my head like a jumping spider. I did it though. Mostly based on my Rooster’s assertion that I had gone that far, why not finish it?
My rooster continues to vacillate over the decision to be vaccinated or not. It’s totally fine. Neither of us are around too many people on any given day anymore. If the pandemic had hit us in 2010, the two of us and all of our friends would either be dead or gratefully recovering. Those were the height of the biker days, sharing drinks, tents… wandering down Titty Alley in Sturgis taking shots from strangers, out of glasses used who knows how many times that night. Or just maybe, that’s why almost none of our friends got the virus, our immunity is very high from those recent-ish days.
We did host the Sun and Surf Rally in Ocean Shores, tradition is important.
We’re grown ups now though. Lol.
08/18/21 66% Vaccinated
Society– It’s the waning days of summer and the fights have started up about kids returning to school with masks. Each state is making their own choices, as they should. Here in Washington masks will be required.
Fox News has finally announced, without hesitation that there’s nothing wrong with the vaccine shots and most journalist admit they have had Covid vaccines, or like at Fox Broadcasting, were required to get them already. This is a harsh turn around from over a year of claiming Covid to be a hoax, and the vaccines to be dangerous and unnecessary. Word has it that they have been threatened with lawsuits for spreading misinformation.
It is proven definitively now that people who have received the vaccine can carry, transmit and still get sick from Covid 19. This starts another round of screaming, fighting and waving signs on the freeway overpasses around America. Oh the joy.
President Biden orders all federal employees to be vaccinated fully by October 18th, he also encourages all private corporations with more than 100 employees to do the same. The backlash is heard around the world. I’m not so sure he’s up to this task any more than the former guy. I don’t think that a mandate is the right way to go about it. People in the Land of the Free don’t like to be told what to do, especially after we all had to stay home because we were told to last year.
Family- Everyone is cruising right along. Things seem better. We had a baby shower for the almost arrived MaryLou Silva, my newest niece and a miracle baby in her own right. With many strangers to most and family friends whose vax status and lifestyle choices unclear, the masks are debuted again. We didn’t have to wear them outside though, only in the house, and being August we just stayed outside.
Self– We took a trip to Hawaii with Dawn and Vince. It had been planned since December 2020 and up in the air until July when the Island of Kauii opened back up to visitors. We had to jump though hoops to travel there though. “Clear Hawaii” requires uploaded proof of either full vaccination or a negative Covid test within 72 hours of the flight arriving in Hawaii. It also wanted every stitch of personal information that you could possibly offer, name, address, phone, next of kin. And since one of us isn’t vaccinated and a special form of test is required an expensive trip to Tukwila was made for $150 test.
Thankfully all was clear. It was maybe a harbinger of traveling almost anywhere else in the future though. ALSO, I am thankful people are required to wear masks on planes right now, but that is almost torture when the flight is six hours.
09/23/21 66.7% Vaccinated
Society- Kids are back to school, masks included. There’s a shortage of school bus drivers nationwide and definitely locally. It appears that when school was out of session for a year and half, even though the contracted drivers were still being paid, since they technically could have been called back to work at any time, many went and got other jobs. The same has happened in the restaurant industry. There is a shortage of workers everywhere, everybody is hiring.
Family- Marylou has joined us! Born at the tail end of a pandemic to a family that deserves her. A collective sigh of relief was shared by all.
Self– All good.
10/31/21 69.4%
Society– The FDA approves the Pfizer shot for those 5-12 years old. I’m not in favor of this decision. I don’t think it’s immediately dangerous but I do think that we have no idea how it will effect their growing bodies. Their reproductive and circulatory systems are too important to play with, and what happened to the idea that kids didn’t often get sick with Covid, even though they may be carriers. We weren’t the least bit concerned about them this time last year.
Family– We are gearing up for a big Thanksgiving. I don’t know for a fact but I’m pretty sure that everybody of advanced age and those with comorbidities have been given the 3rd booster. I am very excited to see multiple turkeys and all of my cousins and extended family. We’re overdue for a game of Screw Your Neighbor. I bet I even get to see most of their faces this time. It is quite likely we are over 90% vaccinated.
Self- Doing fine, I’ve been tending the farm and working my job, we are staying in more than is “normal” but certainly a lot less than in the last year and a half. I do not plan on getting the booster shot. I do not participate in political BS or crazy conspiracy theories.
It was important for me to write this timeline as it happened and maybe it’s skewed by my memories and certainly the known truth just a bit. It’s an 8 month long blog. Sheesh. It was interesting to read the whole thing over tonight to see who I’ve evolved in the last most of a year.
I left out the Delta Variant and some other newsworthy items, because I have poetic license on my own blog page. So don’t come to me screaming in the comments about that. Whether you agree that the “Pandemic” is over or not is irrelevant because we are all still living through the aftermath.
We are living in an important time in history. Frankly, it’s hard to know what is true, what is rumor or conspiracy and what is an out and out Jewish Space Laser.
I know what I thought was true this year. I wrote it down. Get your shot, don’t get your shot. Just be a decent human being. All of this has turned too many people into jerkfaces and I just can’t stand jerkfaces. I know you can’t either.
Some may argue that this isn’t a true adventure of Rooster and SmartyPants. I beg to differ.