Living in the country as I do and without a car by choice; getting to see friends, shop, attend events, etc. was often done on the bus.
During these COVID times, I found myself going through a whole long list of decisions where I compared how essential the activity was to the level of risk it presented. The only time I took the bus in all of the almost year I've been here,was when I went to Cahors for my Titre de Sejour in April. Once I became fully vaccinated in July, I felt much more comfortable about making plans.
I have friends in Tour de Faure who I haven't been able to see since my return about a year ago now.
We'd made plans for this past week and I'd made arrangements to leave my bike at friends' near the bus stop.
Shortly, I realized that there was a huge festival in Cajarc this weekend. People come from all over. Many of them take the bus.
I suddenly became very concerned about doing a round trip on the probably packed bus to see my friends in Tour de Faure on Friday.
I consulted with some friends and they agreed, It was too risky for me and for my friends-our ages range from 67 to over 90.
So, here we are again.
The Delta variant is surging horribly in the states and here.
It hits very close to home since both Missouri and Louisiana are the states leading the surge at the moment. Those who are getting infected are largely (over 95%) unvaccinated.
I have very strong feelings about all of these issues. For me, all I can do is protect myself, those who I love, and the others in the community at large when I can. It means that I'm back to comparing the importance of social activities, the risks, and now, I also have to factor in whether the people in my social circles are vaccinated or not.
This sounds terrible, but the only way you can be sure (if you don't know) is to treat everyone as if they are NOT vaccinated and make decisions about masking and distance accordingly.
My friends and I decided that under the circumstances, it was too risky to go to Tour de Faure on the bus.
It is heartbreaking to be back at this point. My window of hope was a very tiny one. We shall see where we go from here.
Happy Saturday!
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