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I am not a very social person, and I live in a place with a very small population, so avoiding crowds of people came naturally. I always mask up when I go to a public place. I got the vax as soon as I could. So no big changes in my daily life other than masking in public, which is no big deal at all to me. <strong> I have gone to extra effort twice in the past year or so, as I travelled to another state to visit my daughter, her husband and grandchild, and I did everything I could to prepare, in order to both protect myself, but really to protect them.</strong> Last December, before the vaccine, I flew to visit for the holidays, and I needed to follow the<strong> very serious protocols to enter that hard-hit state,</strong> including registering my visit with their state using their online registration. I <strong> had to give lots of personal information</strong> including my quarantine location, dates of visit, method of travel etc. I had<strong> no qualms about providing that info; I do value my privacy but this was a necessary thing to help save lives. I double masked with a N95 mask plus a cotton mask with filter at the airports and on the flight.</strong> As required by that state, I had a<strong> PCR test on arrival</strong> at the airport. I<strong> quarantined on arrival for 15 days alone in a rental house</strong> before I had any face-to-face contact with anyone. I had groceries delivered and sanitized each item carefully. I had 3 PCR covid tests, evenly spaced, during that quarantine, provided free from their state at a large drive-thru testing site, administered with the assistance of the military and with results online.<strong> With negative tests and 15 days of quarantine, I felt comfortable to join the family bubble (who also followed all protocol, masking, etc).</strong> We all committed and agreed that this was the way, and that visit stayed healthy.<strong> As I write this all out, it does seem like an extraordinary effort, but I felt it well-worth the effort. The alternative would be no visit at all</strong>, but my family urged me to visit, and to do what needed to be done, and then they felt safe. It was their choice. There isn't anything I wouldn't do to keep my family safe. <strong> Now that I am vaccinated, I did another trip recently</strong>, same family (vaccinated spouses and unvaxed 4 year old) and since we know the vaccine is not 100%, I masked indoors at my house with my husband for 10 days before my flight. Again sanitizing everything I came in contact with. Then I used an antigen at-home test twice before I flew. I double masked with a N95 mask plus a cotton mask with filter at the airport and on the flight. I got a PCR test at the airport on arrival, then used an antigen at-home test every single day while I was at their home. My plan was to evacuate their home if I showed positive, because as I understand, that's what the antigen test should do - show the first sign of covid, giving you time to quarantine yourself before you develop a large viral load. My tests were negative each day, so<strong> my visit was as safe as I could make it. I was not completely comfortable, but I believe in the science, and I did everything I could possibly do to mitigate risk, and again, it was their choice that I visit and we all agreed to the protocols</strong>. I hope to visit them again this year, but I want the grandchild to be able to be vaccinated before I visit again.
August 9, 2021