I have never seen my 18 month old grandson, Liam. He lives 5,000 miles away and was born during the first Covid pandemic. My plane tickets were deferred and when thing lightened up this summer, I reactivate them to fly and meet him. Not gonna happen now.
I had to call my daughter and tell her that, even though I am fully vaccinated and wasn’t concerned about getting the virus, I was worried that I might carry it to them. Their area of the country has a 45% vax rate and there is the chance that if I didn’t carry it TO them, I would carry it back with me. And I have another 18 month old grandson, Luka, living with me as well as an 11 year old granddaughter. Neither of them has been vaccinated but Hawaii and its residents are at least careful about masks and social distancing. We have a rate of 55% vaccination rate with a 74% rate with the first dose.
It will probably mean losing the approx $1,000 for the round trip flight, but I’d rather lose the money than be the one who brought the virus to my grandchildren. The numbers are getting scary again.
I don’t know when I will get to meet Liam, he’s quite a character. At least the zoom meetings tell me that. If Americans continue to refuse to get vaccinated, this pandemic will not go away. I can’t begin to express my anger at the ‘Freedom” yellers who have effectively blocked me from flying.