I may have had other things to say this week, but with the CDC announcement that vaccinated folks no longer need to wear masks in most settings, even indoors….. I’m just going to copy/paste what I shared on Twitter:
I’m feeling gaslit here. The pandemic ISN’T over. We have ~56% of FIRST vaccines completed here for 16+. 0% for 15 and under. Transmission rates are nowhere near appropriate levels, pretty much anywhere. And then tell me it’s time to go back to normal.
We have a six year old at home. Our county is at 225/100,000 positive COVID cases per day. We need to hit at least 70% vaccinated (likely much higher) to hit herd immunity. I want the pandemic to be over as much as anybody, but it’s not ever yet. Not even close.
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Friday’s Frugal Five
1. We read to the kiddo every night as part of our bedtime routine, and it’s honestly one of my favorite parts of the day. I have such good childhood memories of snuggling up with my Mama and listening to her read to us at the end of the day, and now we get to do the same, with our son snuggled up between the two of us.
Right now, we’re working our way through the Redwall collection from my husband’s childhood (plus an additional book from our local independent bookstore). It’s wonderful to get to read longer books and ones we generally enjoy, and it’s extra special to re-read ones from our childhood.
We’re two thirds of the way through Mariel of Redwall at the moment, and I love that the story features a strong female character (even if she is a mouse). Just because we have a son also doesn’t mean we can’t read “girly” books (read: books with female main characters). For a while our son’s favorite series was Magic Ponies, which was awesome. There are no stories that are meant for one gender.
2. While we’ve been reading old books that we own to the kiddo, I’ve been reading library books myself. I occasionally will still buy a book if its one I plan to re-read again and again and often, or one that I know I’ll want to lend out, but for the most part, the library works well for me. It’s free, and rarely do they not have a title I want. And if they don’t, I make sure to request it, even if I decide to buy the book, so it’s available for others to read in the future.
After Fiery Millennials and Reaching For FI kept talking about the Alanna series and Tamora Pierce in general, I realized I needed to re-read these books from my childhood. I’ve now gotten through the Alanna series and am on book two of The Immortals Quartet, and mentioning the story of a girl who dresses up as a boy to become a knight has piqued the kiddo’s interest, and I think these will soon join the ranks of our nighttime reads.
3. We’ve reached the time of year – already – that I come to appreciate rainy days in a big way because those mean days I don’t have to water the garden. I had to water three times in April, which feels unprecedented. I’ve done a much better job mulching the garden though (with broken down straw bales that were previously used as my husband’s archery backstop), so the water stays in the soil longer.
We have rain on the forecast again next week, so cross your fingers for me that we get at least a bit of rain. A drier spring means a more intense fire season too, so it’s that time of year to embrace the rain when it comes.
4. We had a lovely outside dinner with vaccinated friends earlier in the week, and we were sent home with duck eggs from their backyard ducks. The kiddo (okay, and I) had a lot of fun watching the ducks waddle around the yard, and it felt like love in food form to get sent home with two cartons of eggs.
We might not be getting ducklings, but we will be getting chicks soon, and the realization that soon(ish) we would be the ones to send friends home at the end of the night with homegrown eggs was pretty exciting.
5. My clothes buying ban hasn’t explicitly included sunglasses, but I haven’t purchased any since prior to the point where the ban began more than four years ago. I own a couple of pairs, but I was down to a single pair that I could find for a while, and they are pretty banged up.
I was almost to the point where I was going to bite the bullet and buy myself a pair as we go into summer, but I kept holding off before doing it (and kept meaning to ask on buy nothing). To my surprise, I found another pair of my sunglasses in the bottom of one of the pockets in my day hiking pack, so now I’m good to go! Thanks to my local bestie who gifted them to me as a bridesmaids gift last summer – I’ve made it another while yet using just what I already own or get given to me, either new or as hand me downs.
Exercise Update
Saturday was a soggy day for part of the day, so I did some yoga inside and the kiddo and I had a dance party. Once things dried out in the afternoon, we did a roundtrip walk to town. Sunday was a couple hour hike and then a run in the evening.
Monday and Tuesday were also hiking days, with Tuesday following up with a run at the end of the day. Wednesday was a hike, and Thursday walking and some other activity.
How are you feeling about the new CDC guidance?
I’ve been reading a little commentary about the CDC announcement and the New York Times points out that for fully vaccinated people, the odds of negative effects from COVID are similar to taking a car trip and several other normal activities with risks that we assume every day.
I view it as two-fold message. If you have the vaccine then life can be normal-ish. If you do not have the vaccine, the pandemic continues as it has. I think this seems to follow the science of how beneficial the vaccines are and also serves as a carrot stick to get the unvaccinated motivated to get vaccinated. Roughly, “The pandemic can end for you, if you get vaccinated. So you may want to do that.”
For us with kiddos waiting for the 5-11 to be approved, it’s looking like we’ll be waiting until around September from what I’ve been able to dig up. Obviously, not perfect, but all things considered, not too terrible either especially if it comes before people head back indoors.
For me, it’s more about protecting kids and the vulnerable (immuno compromised etc) as well as a blank check basically for people to stop masking even without a vaccine.
I don’t think vulnerable or kids are in danger of vaccinated unmasked people, so I guess it’s the unmasked, unvaccinated people that pose the risk
The people not masking without a vaccine are against the CDC guidance. It brings up an interesting question of whether the CDC guidance should allow for the empirical science (vaccinated people don’t need to mask) or the behavioral science (now we have a mix of masks and no masks and no way to verify vaccination)?
I don’t think the CDC can “win” either way. People were (rightly IMO) asking why if they are fully vaccinated do they have to wear masks when the science would say it isn’t necessary.
I think there needs to be a bigger push for vaccine passports and ID checkers/bouncers.
I’m with you fully – I would be SO happy to have vaccine passports.
I have such mixed feelings about the new CDC announcement for the fully vaccinated. Especially because, like you, I have a child who won’t be eligible for vaccination for quite some time. For now, our family will continue to mask up. It’s funny that you mention the Alanna books. I had never heard of them until a couple months ago. The series is on my TBR list, too. People rave about how good those books are! My kiddos and I plan to read the Narnia series aloud together this summer.
I have to admit, I don’t love the Narnia books.
I’m also concerned about the new CDC guidance because I feel like it opens us up to a lot of unvaccinated people who will take it as their “green light” to go back to pre-pandemic ways. Since so many who are reluctant to get the vaccine are also reluctant to wear masks, it seems many will simply pretend they’re vaccinated. I don’t know. I feel like the guidance should mention kids as well, since anyone with an under-12-year-old isn’t in a fully vaccinated household. So the rules can’t be so relaxed for us.
However, we did have a fabulous playdate outdoors with my son’s friend yesterday, which was sorely needed. His parents are on the same page as us and fully vaxxed so it was great to get some socialization finally!
Yeeeeeeep. Exactly. The rules aren’t going to be followed differently for people who don’t feel the need to get vaxxed in the first place.