The Vaccinated Are Getting Mad as Hell

I live in a blue bubble. Evanston, Illinois, home of Northwestern University, leans left. I live in a condo in which people still wear masks in common areas and in the elevators. We do let other masked residents ride the elevators with us, which is a change that happened recently. My fellow passengers declare they are fully vaccinated and I suspect almost everyone in the building is. While many people are not masking outside, they are wearing their masks indoors at shops and markets and in larger public outdoor gatherings. This was the norm even before the CDC did its about face and recommended going back to this practice. I feel pretty safe here.

As of July 28, approximately 84 percent of Evanston residents 12 and older have received at least one vaccine dose, and 78 percent are fully vaccinated. 94% of seniors are fully vaccinated. In the last two weeks of June, we had no cases of COVID, but in our most recent data, we have 23 active cases. With the more contagious Delta variant circulating and summer travel and celebrations adding to the risk, I’m not surprised to see this uptick. My recent trip to Indiana provided some insight into just how schizophrenic our nation’s response to the pandemic is.

On a visit to our daughter’s family, we checked into a Fairfield Inn hotel in Avon, Indiana, which is a suburb of Indianapolis. The lobby was filled with people who were laughing and socializing, none of whom wore masks. The staff behind the desk were also unmasked. People looked at us wearing our masks as if we were aliens. Some even snickered. The first room key we were given was to someone else’s room. When we finally got an unoccupied room, there was no indication that it had been sanitized. In short, we felt uncomfortable and unsafe staying there.

I’m getting tired of following the rules when others are not. I don’t feel safe going anywhere in public without my mask because I don’t know what it means when I encounter other unmasked people. As long as we are on the honor system about our vaccine status, I can’t assume no mask means someone is fully vaccinated. In fact, it is more likely that they are “vaccine hesitant,” which is a euphemism for not believing in science or public health but rather falling for the misinformation being dished out on social media and some cable stations.