Happy Christmas Everyone; or Merry Christmas to the Americans amongst you, and Happy Holidays to those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas at all! It is going to be a strange one for sure, as most of us are still being asked to follow Stay At Home rules.
Here in Los Angeles restrictions have never been fully lifted since the lockdown in March and since this recent Thanksgiving surge a 10pm curfew has been put in place and even outdoor dining has been vetoed. I am not surprised as I can only think of a handful of people that I know that are following the government guidelines to the letter.
I know I don’t. I am doing my best, but am guilty of making a few unnecessary trips to the grocery store and I do see a couple of people who don’t live in my household. I feel I make safe choices but also realize that nothing is deemed ‘safe’ until this virus is under control. In the past couple of weeks I have become aware that many more of my friends and acquaintances have now got ‘it’. The majority swear that they were as careful and in some cases far more cautious than I am. Yet they still caught it.
It is obvious that we are all suffering from covid fatigue, but we can’t slack off now. Our hospitals are at capacity and our healthcare workers are exhausted. Two vaccines are already approved and there are others on the way.
According to my Facebook feed it seems that a lot of you are afraid of vaccines in general and particularly suspicious of the Covid ones. There is so much misleading information on the internet and everyone seems to have an ‘expert’ opinion. I too have doubts and have been apprehensive in the past when it comes to shots of any kind; I’ve always dismissed my doctor’s suggestion of receiving the annual flu shot as unnecessary. But this year I actually asked for it before he even got around to mentioning it. I opted to have it as it finally dawned on me that I was doing it to protect those around me as well as myself.
The main concerns with these latest vaccines seems to be that they have been rushed and yes that is somewhat true. The process has been dramatically sped up, but that’s because it is of the utmost urgency. You don’t usually get all of the top scientists from around the world working on a solution supported by billions of dollars in investment in such a short time. It is also worth mentioning that it is unusual to have thousands of people readily available to test it on. All of these factors make me feel it has not so much been rushed but fast tracked. I know anything I say will never talk round the anti-vaxxers but if you are someone who is on the fence you might find the answers to some of your questions in this article that has clear answers from real experts covering pretty much everything you could want to know about the vaccines: https://tinyurl.com/QuestionsaboutCovid.
It all comes down to what makes you feel comfortable really, and for me the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks.
Christmas may be cancelled this year but perhaps that too is a blessing in disguise. As it really has become far too commercial for my liking and I hope that by taking this year off Christmas 2021 will be extra special and the celebrations will be more about spending time with our friends and family rather than it being about shopping for the most expensive gifts.
I hope you have a good one whatever you choose to do, if you are feeling a bit lonely try and join us for our last quiz night of the year next Tuesday – it is hosted online via Zoom. It is lots of fun and for most of us it really is about the taking part and not the winning so don’t feel you need to be particularly clever to join in! Details can be found on our Facebook page or drop me a line at eileen@britsin.la and I can help you.
Stay safe!
Cheers.
Eileen
