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Current case counts + the UK variant mean that everything you have heard is "low risk" needs to be reevaluated. And the things you were told were enough (just wear a mask, at least 6 ft apart, etc) may not be recommended anymore. Its important to stay up to date with the changes.
If you aren't already double masking (a base layer of a n95 or kn95 or if you cannot obtain one then a surgical mask, with a regular fabric mask or disposable mask over top,) you need to start.
And if you are still using a gaiter, bandana, loose fabric covering, or face shield instead of a fitted mask? You NEED to stop.
Churches that have been meeting in person, you should be right now. Not even with masks.
But if you insist on doing it, your speakers and worship leaders MUST keep their masks on the entire time. No matter how "distanced" you are, you share the same air with the rest of the room
But if you insist on doing it, your speakers and worship leaders MUST keep their masks on the entire time. No matter how "distanced" you are, you share the same air with the rest of the room
If you *can* stop shopping in person and switch to deliveries or curbside pickup, it's important to do so. Grocery shopping really is made THAT much more dangerous by the new variants. No exaggeration.
If you must shop for yourself, try to limit yourself to only one grocery run per week rather than lots of smaller trips, in order to reduce the number of exposures you have.
The whole "we only took our masks off for a quick second to take the picture, and we were outdoors" thing has GOT to stop.
Whether indoors or outdoors, never ever remove your mask for even a brief interaction with people from outside your "household" (however you define that)
Whether indoors or outdoors, never ever remove your mask for even a brief interaction with people from outside your "household" (however you define that)
Yes, that means that there isn't a way to share meals with people right now unless you can be both outdoors AND at least a minimum of 8-10ft apart. That can be impossible in many places in winter, and unfortunately in those places in means no shared meals then. It's the riskiest.
Eating in a restaurant is hands down the most dangerous thing you could do right now. No matter how much they distance the tables, no matter how many plastic dividers they put up, you are still sharing the same air with EVERYONE in that room.
Let me put it this way: if you wouldn't feel comfortable sharing the same straw with everyone in the restaurant? You shouldn't be eating there right now.
THAT'S how airborne transmission works. If you wouldn't swap spit with someone, you shouldn't share air with them right now.
THAT'S how airborne transmission works. If you wouldn't swap spit with someone, you shouldn't share air with them right now.
And as much as it makes everyone mad, there just isn't a safe way to reopen schools right now. Not with the variant. A room full of people wearing just basic fabric masks, many of them neck gaiters or otherwise loose around the edges? The risk of transmission is still VERY high.
I get that we are all tired of this pandemic, i get that a lot people heard "vaccines" and decided this thing was basically over, but please try to understand that it's actually FAR more dangerous right now than it has been at any other time so far.
Not only is this not the time to "relax" things, but we actually need to *increase* our vigilance from last year.
Because the number of lives at stake between now and summer is staggering.
Don't quit running when the finish line is in sight!
Because the number of lives at stake between now and summer is staggering.
Don't quit running when the finish line is in sight!
No matter how hard it is to tighten up even more right now, remember that this is NOT forever. We just need to make it long enough to get enough vaccines into arms, & then there really will be big changes in what we can safely do again WITHOUT killing our neighbors in the process
PS: Today marks 11 months exactly (335 days) that I have been in total strict isolation at home. I'm really feeling the weight of this past year alone, but it's so much more compounded by the exhausting work of begging people to actually behave like they care about any of this.
No matter how hard you think it would be to tighten up your behaviors for the next couple months, I speak from some pretty big authority here when I say that you CAN do it. I'm tired of hearing it would be too hard or its too unreasonable to expect.
Lives are literally at stake. Hundreds of thousands of lives between now and summer.
Please, can you at least pretend that matters more than how "hard" it would be to stop eating out or be inconvenienced by ordering your groceries online?
Please, can you at least pretend that matters more than how "hard" it would be to stop eating out or be inconvenienced by ordering your groceries online?
And hell, even if you are honestly too selfish to care about anyone else, the life that you save here just might be YOURS.
Ugh... twitter needs an edit button. I hope it was pretty clear in that earlier tweet that I was saying churches should NOT be meeting in person, even with masks. Not that they SHOULD be. 
I'm tired you guys. Really really tired. Bear with me please.
I'm tired you guys. Really really tired. Bear with me please.
