I recently visited a popular local eating establishment to pick up a takeout dinner. After another workday focused on reducing the transmission of COVID-19, wearing gowns, masks and goggles, I had to talk myself into going through the large crowd waiting outside the restaurant, now operating at full capacity. I am fully vaccinated. I wore a surgical mask. Aside from the restaurant employees, no one else did. The crowd was laughing, drinking, talking in close proximity — like normal times were back, like COVID didn’t exist. At least 50% of them were likely unvaccinated, based on city vaccination percentages. They were obviously living in a different reality than me.
There were two ICU beds available in Anchorage yesterday, by the hospital dashboard. If one family leaving that one restaurant were in a serious traffic accident on the way home, there weren’t adequate ICU beds to offer them in the city. The hospitals are overflowing. Staffing is short, staff is exhausted. There is no reserve left.
I wanted to plead with that crowd to put on masks, to give up their need to be normal and “free” long enough to get vaccinated and stop the spread of this virus. Instead, I walked quickly through the crowd, avoiding the gaze of those who stared at my mask, and picked up my food as quickly as I could. I left to eat at home, where it was safe and not disheartening, so I could go back to the hospital today.
— Bonnie Bishop Stark
Anchorage
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