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Have people forgotten about the pandemic? I found myself repeatedly asking that question during this past week while visiting my parents in Florida. It's a shock compared to the life I've been living in California. Here in Florida, I commonly see people (including my father - who I often remind, gently at first, then more vocally) not wearing masks while out and about. Today for example - my mother and I ventured inside a department store and I saw a man walking around without a mask on- next to a sign that said "no mask, no service." Yet no one was harassing him or reminding him to put on his mask. Even myself - I gave him this look of disgust. But that's not just it - I'm seeing it everywhere. I go for a run and when I encounter other people (who most of the time are not wearing masks) - they don't give me three or six feet of space. Half a dozen contractors have cycled in and out of my parents house this week - at least fifty percent weren't wearing a mask. At restaurants, people going to and from the bathroom or the front door without a mask on. Even now, as I sit at home watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament, I see viewers in the stands without masks on (or wearing them improperly). A diehard Cardinals fan, I just saw that a brawl broke out - it's Day 3 of the regular season of baseball. Instead, it feels like the news has shifted their focus from the pandemic - lessening it, as if it should be an afterthought - not the main thing. We seem to be allowing ourselves to ease up. No one wants to talk about the COVID-19 outbreak in the Nationals camp that prevented the series from being played. No one wants to talk about the lack of vaccinations in Europe. (By the way, I acknowledge that California is far from perfect and that I've seen a lack of mask wearing as much - just not in my neighborhood). It's driving me a bit insane - I won't lie. Because the pandemic is not over. Even after I get my shot (which will be soon - I hope), we have to stay committed. And I hate it. I stay up at night looking over photos from my previous trips - when travel was still a thing. I think about all the people I haven't seen and wish I could see. This week, I did something "BC" (before coronavirus) - I saw a dermatologist. It was my first visit to a doctor since December 2019. I had put off going because I worried about coronavirus and felt it was not "essential." I finally decided it was time to go and admitted to myself that the constant wearing of a mask (which I hate) has given me constant mascne (mask-acne). It was time to get help. And the visit was smooth and easy. It did make me think it was time to start getting current on other appointments I've blown off. But then I saw the non-mask wearers and I decided I could wait a little bit longer.
April 5, 2021