This past weekend, we travelled to Minnesota to celebrate Kathleen's niece's graduation and to see her family after a nearly two year hiatus. We took in some local sites, including a local ice creamery, mini golf, and a Minnesota United soccer game. What I was struck by - in this state with a higher than average vaccination rate - was the near complete absence of masking - outdoors, indoors, and even at the crowded stadium. Mind you, my immediate family and I wore masks, but we were the outliers.
As cases surge in other parts of the country, it felt strange to be in a place where time seemed to have stood still - a state not quite like the before times but that was also clearly not a state of emergency with an even more contagious variant running rampant.
Perhaps these people understood something I did not - that their risk of death or hospitalization was low and that they were going to live it up until the next time things got so bad that a shutdown or retreat to virus mitigation strategies was required.
It was interesting to contemplate their perspective, but wearing a mask did not feel like a step back to me. Rather, it felt like the responsible thing to do for my patients, my family, and my community. I realized that I cannot control anyone else's decisions, but I can control mine. Let us hope that this summer of content does not rapidly deteriorate into our fall and winter of discontent.
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