eSCAping Type 1

Did you hear?  The CDC said, “Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing.”

Yay! We’re returning to normalcy!

This is a huge step, right? I’m writing about it because I think it is? 

But can’t vaccinated people still spread COVID? Won’t unvaccinated people stop wearing masks too, since there’s no way to regulate this?

Apparently we don’t care about protecting others anymore?

I guess it’s no big deal if a vaccinated person is exposed to the virus – they’re far less likely to develop harmful symptoms. But, as of right this minute, only 38% of Americans have been fully vaccinated… And some people can’t get vaccinated… And some people don’t want to get vaccinated…

So shouldn’t we all still be practicing safety precautions?

To be fair (yes, the tone in which you read those three words factors into our friendship), Dr. Fauci claims the public is “misinterpreting” the new CDC guidelines. According to our nation’s chief medical advisor, it was meant to be read as, “If you are vaccinated, you can feel safe — that you will not get infected either outdoors or indoors. It did not explicitly say that unvaccinated people should abandon their masks.”

But I’m going to go ahead and say it’s the state governments who are “misinterpreting” guidelines, not us. They’re the ones who lifted the mandates as soon as the CDC said this. Those individuals who are choosing not to get vaccinated were largely those choosing not to wear masks throughout this pandemic. Do you really think they’re going to wear one now?

OK, so, let’s think about this a different way – every man for himself. I’m vaccinated and therefore invincible. I can go out in public and get right up close to whoever I want without a mask. If they had the chance to get vaccinated and chose not to, whatever. It has no effect on me.

But I’d like to bring my kid with me.

My toddler can’t get vaccinated…yet? He FINALLY went inside a store for the first time in his life a few weeks ago, when I felt safe because everyone was masked and distancing, but now that they don’t have to, do we go back to quarantine/isolation? Is that our only way of staying safe?

You see, strangers of all types think a baby is an open invitation to come real close and talk to you/touch your kid/breathe in their face. Sure, unvaccinated people are still supposed to wear masks and socially distance themselves in public, but we’ve established that that’s not going to happen, right?

Now, I’m just a Stay-at-Home mom with no formal legal or medical knowledge, but I’m pretty sure you can’t just randomly ask someone their personal medical background. So, again, how is it even remotely possible to enforce this?

I really feel like Leo’s at a higher risk of getting COVID now that any sort of safety precautions were just thrown out the window.

So, basically, I’m really not sure how we’re supposed to react. Like I said, it’s a moment I kind of thought we would celebrate, but everyone just seems so confused. I sure am.

Plus, I have a feeling not everyone is excited for life to go back to “normal.”

I’m not going to lie, I kind of liked it when everyone realized that isolating and working from home isn’t exactly a “vacation.” When DIY whipped coffee was all the rave since no one could go to Starbucks. When restaurant tables were spaced out enough that my wheelchair could fit through, without me having to call ahead of time or being stared at by customers trying to move out of the way as if I’m the problem.

So, no, not all of us are thrilled to back to how things used to be. Especially because I’d say these COVID mandates kind of helped make life easier for people with disabilities.

At the very least it normalized some of our accommodations. 

For example, I really loved being able to order food online without having to talk to anyone on the phone to do so (as a millennial Ataxian, phone calls are actually my nightmare). Then, the deliverer would knock, set my order on the porch right outside my door, and leave. I didn’t have to stress about getting in/out of my wheelchair, while also somehow restraining my dog and fumbling for cash, and then getting to the door and chatting with yet another stranger, and then balancing all that food on my lap while rolling to the table…

And all this was NORMAL during quarantine. It didn’t matter that someone was leaving a milkshake on your stoop at 2pm on a Tuesday. That person had a bunch of other random, faceless deliveries to get through that day.

But now, you can just hop in your car and go get it yourself. It’s weird to get snacks delivered.

Isn’t it funny how some “normal” aspects of handicap lives are the same things people were completely outraged about during the pandemic? Yup.

So, please remember to keep everything you learned this past year in the back of your mind as you embrace this “new normal.”

Personally, I didn’t quarantine with a newborn for a year just to randomly wake up one morning, smile, and say, “Fuck it!” Though, apparently, that’s what the CDC is doing.