We’re escaping to the Florida Free State for the Maskachusetts school vacation week (April 18-25). A journey of 1,000+ miles is the best way for the kids to get a “mask break” (under what would be the “law” if it had been passed by the legislature instead of merely ordered by the governor, walking outside one’s yard, even at midnight in a low-density exurb, is illegal without a mask).
Our destination: Jupiter, Florida, specifically Abacoa. Who wants to meet for coffee, lunch, beach walk, etc.? Please email philg@mit.edu if you’d like to get together! Bring the dog:
In case you’re wondering when coronapanic begins to wind down here in the epicenter of coronapanic… from Monday, “[Governor] Baker: No Plans Yet to Change Guidance on Outdoor Mask-Wearing” (NBC):
Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday he had no immediate plans to change the Massachusetts’ mask mandate, saying his administration would only do so when more people are vaccinated.
Almost half of the states in the country no longer have mask mandates, but all of New England still has them, which has prompted questions about when the rules might be relaxed in Massachusetts and the region.
In a press conference at the Family Health Center of Worcester, Baker said he would follow federal guidance on mask-wearing and incorporate additional information about COVID-19 variants.
“A lot of it is going to depend on both guidance we get from the feds and how fast we are able to vaccinate people, and how big a deal these variants are, not just here in Massachusetts and the northeast but around the country generally,” he said.
Everyone will be wearing a mask, which #Science says makes spreading coronavirus nearly impossible (it is even safe to join 150 people inside a 100% full Airbus!), much will continue to be shut down or capacity-restricted, and everyone who was previously considered vulnerable has already been vaccinated. But sticking healthy young people, the only folks left here who haven’t tried out the investigational vaccines, will make all the difference:
“The vaccine saves lives,” Baker said at the press conference, during which he highlighted the importance of community health centers during the pandemic.
Related:
- Relocation to Florida for a family with school-age children
- countries ranked by COVID-19 death rate (fully- and early-masked Czech Republic #1)
- states ranked by COVID-19 death rate (note that Massachusetts would be #1 on the countries list if we were our own country; note also that Florida is way down the list and would be a lot farther down if you adjusted for percent of population over 65 (and therefore vulnerable to death from/with COVID-19))
In an all too common twist of fate, we will both be in Florida next week, but still separated by that east coast/west coast thing.
“The vaccine saves lives,” Baker said… Maybe not, perhaps the vaccine is more deadly than princess ‘rona. https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=242081
Do people really wear masks outside because of the mandate? I figured all the idiots wearing masks outside were scared of the bug and not the fake law.
Are you flying down there in your own plane?
And if you fly your own plane, do you ship luggage separately? I assume with a family in a cirrus, there is not too much spare room or allowable weight.
That was a ClarkHoward (cheapscate podcaster and AM radio host) trick, he would never check luggage when flying, due to the potential aggravations.
Viking: if it won’t fit, you don’t need it (or you buy it at Walmart). Running a bigger plane is crazy expensive. (As it happens, we’re doing this with a friend in a PC-12 so we’ve packed everything that could conceivably fit into our rental minivan, including bikes.)