These are the local statistics for my neck of the woods. I live in a red state, one that voted for Trump despite the fact that more of us died per capita than in the country as a whole, and re-elected a governor who literally said that she was not going to close businesses because the hospitals still had beds. She cares not if people needlessly die, and as of now, she endangers more of us each and every day with her lack of attention to public health. Despite that, we are protecting ourselves and our community. We are vaccinated, and I have every reason to believe that as the guidelines about getting booster shots start to emerge, that we will comply with these quidelines as well.
Today, however, our university town opens its doors to students starting the fall semester today and all bets are off as to how that will go. It went exceedingly poorly last fall with a rise in COVID and hospitalizations directly linked to students returning and bars being open. Data rolled in showing that communities that had universities had excessive rates of COVID infections amongst non-student residents, and that having a univeristy nearby put you at greater risk of both infection and death.
So what happens next? Will we do better this time around or will history repeat itself? The delta variant lays in wait for us to let down our guard. One way or the other, we will know soon enough.
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