We were riding high there for a hot moment, weren’t we? Those of us who were vaccinated taking vacations, going to Target without a mask on, breathing a lot easier when outdoors in heat and humidity, eating indoors in restaurants. But Delta, you’ve found a sure and able bodied vehicle on which to ride through the world and continue COVID’s path of destruction. That vehicle? The unvaccinated. Because of these stalwart believers in their immortality, unvaccinated children are now at risk of getting serious ill and then bearing the effects of severe health issues for the remainders of their lives. And others like them will get sick and likely die.

Those of us who got vaxxed may still contract COVID–but we won’t get deathly ill. However, we can pass the virus on to kids and those who are still immune-compromised and they can suffer. And because so many in the anti-vaxxing camp are still under the belief that the vaccine will 1. magnetize you 2. make everyone paralyzed 3. embed your body with a government-planted chip 4. prove to the world that yes, you indeed are mortal, etc., our hospitals are treating COVID patients again, our healthcare workers have really, and I mean, really had it with you all, and yeah, we’re back to masking up of the KN95 variety in Target again.

I have no problem with wearing a mask. Even if its hotter than hell outside, I’ll put a mask on if i’m going to be near anyone. And now that I’m working back in an office again, I will not be lulled into a false sense of normalcy or security just because our building is open again. In the conference room, i’m masking up–even though all my colleagues are vaccinated.

When are the unvaccinated and their ilk going to understand there is no pathway forward without getting vaccinated and wearing masks? You see, many will claim that everything is fine: businesses are opening again, airline travel is back up, Canada is letting us germy Americans over the border. You know, to prove that none of this is/was as serious as the “DEMOCRATS!!!” said it was. But what I think many fail to taking into account is that it is because a vaccination was rushed through and that at this point, at least 50% of Americans have received it that there hasn’t been more death and total economic collapse. Essentially, those who have been smart and unselfish are now carrying the “others” on our backs.

I have a dear friend who is a respiratory therapist. She has been on the front lines since this whole thing began. She has seen patients of every age intubated and eventually die from this virus. For a time the COVID patients dwindled down to nothing and the ICU at her hospital was again used for patients with serious conditions as per pre-COVID days. And now they are back. And 100% of them refused vaccination over these past few months. It doesn’t have to be this way.

I dearly wish the belligerent among us would stop and consider history. Why aren’t we talking about polio, measles, mumps, even rampant chicken pox outbreaks? Because the vaccines created to eradicate the scourge has saved us. “But, those vaccines took years, and this took months, and we don’t even know what it’s going to do???!!!!,” cry the naysayers.

All those vaccines were created to stop a serious problem. No one was sitting in a lab and thinking, “ummm today’s a light day, so maybe I’ll see if I can whip up a little something for Polio.” Scientists and doctors sped the process using the technology they had available and that took more time then it does now. And yes, there were naysayers whining and stomping their feet then, even as once-healthy children were rendered partially paralyzed from polio. In fact, in the 1950s, when it was imperative that teens get vaccinated for it, the numbers were so low the public health community had to harness an idea that has proven the test of time–celebrity endorsement. All they had to do was film Elvis getting his polio vaccine, and the masses followed.

It baffles me that a public health crisis has been hijacked by a band of political folks as proof that one side is trying to harm the other and the the ones resisting it are the true patriots or the ones that are really wiser than the scientists and doctors of the world. But it’s them and their children that are going to keep filling up the hospitals. If the grown ups survive, there is no telling how long it will take to get back to their normal health. And if the younger ones eventually test negative, they are going to carry the marks of this for their lifetimes.

And I’m not even addressing the marginalized communities who distrust the medical system of this country–for good historical reason. But they too are gambling with their lives.

We are all sick and tired of this. Literally. Get Vaxxed!