Back to indoor eating

I had a sudden craving for fish and chips this morning.  At 11 a.m., I arrived at my favorite breakfast/burger joint.  The parking lot was pretty crowded.  Lots of people inside. 

I walked in, ordered my fish, and grabbed a seat by the windows -- my favorite location -- a seat that was available only because the woman sitting there was about to leave.  In Washington, 50 percent of restaurant tables currently display firmly worded "no-no" signs. 

A year ago, I was freaked out by the crowds in this same restaurant, even though I was masked and just picking up a pre-ordered hamburger.  A month ago -- same restaurant -- I arrived at 11 a.m., saw the cars in the parking lot, and turned around and went home.  Even though I was fully immunized.

Why my sudden courage?  Partly because I've grown gradually used to being immunized and hence, to my way of thinking, immortal.  But mainly because the CDC this week told us that it was fine for immunized folks to mingle with others, indoors or out, without wearing masks.  That was what we all had been waiting for.  That was all I needed to hear.

Still, once I had that fish in my belly, I pondered over my doubts.  Why the CDC's sudden change of attitude?  Why were the floodgates flung open?  And I'm not the only one expressing doubts.  According to the New York Times, just two weeks ago 80 percent of epidemiologists felt we would to need to wear masks indoors in public places for at least another year.  Only five percent felt we could stopping wearing them by this summer.

I was eating indoors.  And while sitting in my booth, I obviously didn't wear a mask.  I was eating and drinking, for God's sake!  And reading my Kindle.  When I eat at this burger joint, it's not a quick grab of something to eat.  It's at least an hour, as I slowly dip my fish in ketchup, and nibble on it gently.  Chew thoughtfully on a French fry.  Stopping occasionally to use my napkin to wipe fish grease and bits of ketchup off my Kindle screen.  My meal isn't just ingestion; it's a full-body experience.

The CDC is said to have changed its guidelines so radically and abruptly for two reasons:  First, the vaccines -- especially the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines -- are very protective.  And recent data shows they also protect against variant strains of the virus, at least to the extent of assuring that the immunized will avoid serious illness, hospitalization, or death.  And second, other recent studies show that even for the small number of immunized persons who do test positive for Covid-19, with or without mild symptoms, their load of virus is too small to be a serious threat to unvaccinated persons with whom they come into contact.

So yes, I'll go back for more fish and chips, even during the crowded noon hours.  I will conscientiously continue to put my mask on any time I get up from the table, and go after more coffee or ketchup, as I did today.  And I will feel relatively safe.  And relatively undangerous to anyone not yet immunized.  (In my zip code, 82.5 percent of all persons 16 years or older have received at least their first shot.)

I'll feel safe, based on the scientific data to date, although I still have a nagging worry -- despite the scientific data -- that the CDC acted when it did primarily in order to protect the economy and, perhaps, to encourage the hesitant to get immunized by offering a reward to those who already had their shots.  

And that perhaps the decision was motivated by the CDC's concern that the natives were getting restless, and needed a few more carrots and fewer sticks.