So Over All of This

Last year our family realized that a lot of people in our community had different thoughts on wearing masks and getting vaccinated during the pandemic than we did.  We knew that the only way to avoid the virus was to  follow what we felt was appropriate, to stay away from crowded indoor areas such as church and restaurants, wear masks when we felt it was appropriate and get vaccinated as soon as possible.  I was thankful that Bethany followed the same philosophy that we did.  I know that it wasn't always fun last year for the students, but it did keep the incidence rate of Covid infections at their school to a minimum.  

Fast forward a year and not much has changed in our area.  Vaccinations became available statewide, but only 30% of adults in Kosciusko County chose to receive them.  Although positive rates in the summer decreased dramatically, the Delta variant arrived early this fall and once again cases exploded and ICU beds were in short supply.  The arguments between those who followed the science and those who only got their Covid advice from social media started up again.  Fortunately, Bethany chose to take the health department's advice early and return to mask wearing.  For Cameron it meant that he wouldn't have to quarantine if exposed since he had been vaccinated.  We were happy to hear that as we didn't want him to miss tennis.  Our local public school chose a different route and over 20% of the high school students in one class had to quarantine or isolate two weeks ago.  I was really happy that we weren't part of that mess.

We had learned to accept that this would be the new norm for our community.  We knew that here would be times that we would have to mask up, get a vaccine booster or stay away from crowded areas during high transmission times.  Last week our President, however, decided that he would "solve" the Covid problem.  He announced that the Department of Labor would pass a mandate through OSHA that would require all employers with 100 or more employees to require vaccinations or weekly negative test results for the unvaccinated. 

Whoever thought of that idea had obviously never had to worry about hiring workers during an employment shortage.  All Doug has been doing these past few months is coming up with ways to hire new employees - bonuses, increased wages, transportation help - it really hasn't made a big difference.  His company is not alone in the struggle.  Every place we drive by has a "help wanted" or "now hiring" sign.  It just hasn't worked.  Now, these same businesses all have one more obstacle to overcome in looking for employees and I think that it is the biggest one of all.  Dr. Fauci may think that everyone wants to get back to work and mandating vaccines will make a huge difference.  I think that he and President Biden have no experience in the real world.  If an adult hasn't been vaccinated yet, there's little chance that they ever will be.  Hopefully, the President's speech will be just that, all talk.  If not, Doug said they will come up with a plan.  It won't make the unemployment issues in our area any easier, but there's not much anyone can do about it but keeping on plugging away.