A Journal of the Plague Year 2021–chapter 200

Thursday, March 11

We are back in NYC, and tomorrow we’ll be going to get our second dose of the Pfizer anti-COVID-19 vaccine. I am now more apprehensive about post-pandemic life than I am about getting the sickness. And I doubt that I am alone in this: Today’s Times compared life in contemporary Manhattan to that in the classic dystopian sci-fi flick Blade Runner

Just what is to come ultimately is hard to imagine.

Earlier this week, the CDC issued guidelines saying “fully vaccinated Americans can gather indoors in private homes in small groups with other fully vaccinated people, without masks or distancing. They can gather with unvaccinated people in a private home without masks or distancing so long as the unvaccinated occupy a single household and all members are at low risk for developing severe disease should they contract the virus.” 

Whew. Does everybody have to sign a waiver?

And just who will feel safe doing this? I for one am not rushing to go out to restaurants or to the homes of the unvaccinated—or even the homes of the vaccinated.

Much will depend, I suspect, on just how others behave. At first at least, I think I will view public gatherings with great trepidation. It’ll take a while to get used to seeing people in groups.

The fact that Republicans have politicized mask-wearing and other sensible behavior will also make anti-GOPers reluctant to adopt any change. Going anywhere without a mask will seem like wearing a Trump button.

Dinner: lentil soup, a green salad, and Persian rice pudding.

Entertainment: More episodes of Fargo on Hulu, and more episodes of Call My Agent! on Netflix.