I’m really confused by people that post about how sad the pandemic situation is in other countries right now, while also posting pictures of themselves eating in restaurants and excitedly sending kids back to in-person classes, and unmasked church services.

Are you under the impression that the US is somehow protected from the P1 variant that is ravaging through countries like Brazil?

Do you think our kids won’t be effected by B117 the way countless European countries have seen?

I’m honestly trying to understand the disconnect.

3 key facts:

The US is *nowhere near* herd immunity numbers yet.

Kids 15 & under haven’t been vaccinated as a group yet AT ALL.

B117 isn’t just more contagious AND more deadly, it specifically impacts kids and teens MUCH harder than past strains.

I know we’re all exhausted with the pandemic. And yes, vaccinated adults *can* enjoy some things safely now that weren’t safe for them before. But that list is actually pretty limited. (For most of y’all it’s things you were already doing anyways.)

It’s not just P1, B117, or the South African variant that are an issue now. Texas A&M just caught a potentially frightening new variant recently. India is seeing another. And there are at least 4-5 others on the radar in the last couple weeks.

Case numbers are still high, so variants are happening regularly, & they’re following the evolutionary progression we’d expect: they’re getting better at evading antibodies, better at transmission, & better at infecting the group they have the most access to now - kids 15 & under

If you’ve got a bad case of pandemic “senioritis,” try asking yourself which would be harder:

Limiting yourself just a BIT longer until we can reach herd immunity & lower case numbers

VS

Causing a vax resistant variant that sends us all back to square one for the next year+

For parents who are vaccinated now, who have kids under 15, please please please understand that the idea Covid doesn’t really affect kids an absolute wives tale - ESPECIALLY now with b117 as the dominant strain here in the US.

Pediatric hospitalizations are *already* climbing in places like Michigan.

Countless European countries directly attributed their new wave of infections to pediatric cases driven by schools.

Why the US thinks we are somehow going to be special is honestly beyond me.

And you only need to look to the recent story of the Vancouver Canucks to understand why P1 is a Covid game changer here as well. High performance athletes in top health, with strict bubble protocols, regular testing, & top quality PPE - ravaged by infection, many hospitalized.

I know I stopped talking about some of this for awhile, because honestly it’s drained my soul in ways I can’t even describe to spend over a year begging people to care and seeing how much lives like mine were expendable. But I had to say something today. It’s too important.

The pandemic is NOT over.
It is NOT safer out there right now than it was in winter.
Cases are NOT on the decline in most places. That was sadly temporary, and trends are on the increase once again.
And the groups being hardest hit now are NOT seniors - it’s people 35 & under.

Wear your masks.
Limit your gathering sizes still.
Don’t expose your unvaccinated children to other people who are/may be unvaccinated without masks and distancing.
Don’t eat in restaurants indoors.
Don’t have indoor church services (especially unmasked.)

And no matter how unpopular this is to say, if you *can* do virtual school for your kids, it’s still wise to do so. B117 is an absolute beast, and states like Michigan are already seeing the results of the rush to reopen schools.

We all want this thing to be over.

But pretending it’s over for before it’s ACTUALLY over not only kills more people in the meantime (which some of y’all don’t seem to care about honestly,) it also extends the time this pandemic will drag on for everyone.

You want things to be truly back to normal?

Then tighten back up and stop rushing to “reopen” things or remove mask mandates before we’ve reached case levels that justify that sort of response.

Because here’s the thing:

If we continue to see vaccine escape from new strains? Families like mine who have *just* gained very very limited freedoms outside our home thanks to vaccine, will be 100% locked down and trapped again.

Please don’t do that to me. PLEASE.

If you made it to the end of this thread, here’s a flower pic as a reward

I know some of you were hoping I would *only* stick to the flowers these days, but even when I’m a flower lady I’m still a high-risk disabled flower lady.

I never get to forget, so you shouldn’t either