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It's probably time to start wearing a mask again, especially if you have other health concerns. Thank the Delta variant and those who remain unvaccinated by choice. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Everybody having a nice summer? Getting a little time away from work, enjoying going out and doing stuff in a crowd, just feeling sort of normalish again?
Good. Get it out of your system, because if things continue the way they are now, Fall 2021 is going to feel a lot like Spring 2020. And it will be 100% the fault of anyone who is still choosing to remain unvaccinated against COVID and its emerging variants.
And yeah, it's probably time to start wearing a mask again.
Look, folks, I tried to chill out -- like many of thousands of you, I spent most of last week at the Jersey Shore, in a bathing suit by day and feeding money into blinking electronic machines, hoping for a prize, by night. There were delicious meals in restaurants, little kids packed together on amusement rides, chats with strangers by the pool and hours spent on the water hoping for a fish. Everybody seemingly safe, happy and mostly unmasked and, one desperately hoped, vaccinated if possible.
Cue the Delta variant, which is now plowing a predictable-yet-tragic path of death through the ranks of people who have chosen to remain unvaccinated. You've read those stories, and the testimonial from the Alabama doctor faced with dying patients begging for a shot has gone viral.
One major argument in favor of getting the vaccine has been that for otherwise healthy people, getting it means even if you got infected you'd likely live. Here's what that looks like, months later: Of the 49 vaccinated people in Jersey who have died from COVID infections, most had at least one underlying health condition that put them at risk.
Right now, New Jersey's higher-than-average vaccine adoption rate is keeping us in a decent place. But we'll never know how many unvaccinated tourists washed through the state this summer, or how many people who did get vaccinated will pick up the Delta variant from someone who didn't.
Even people I don't usually credit, like Mitch McConnell and Steve Scalise, are urging people to get the damn shot already and that's worth noting. (I'll give a few of you a second to recover from the shock of that one.)
I'm not ready to call for a vaccine mandate -- though this guy is and you should read this -- but I am ready to call out people who still seem to think choosing not to vaccinate has no effect on anyone else.
Also this week, lots of happenings on the water, a victory that means freedom for four men, Kim Guadagno quits the party, and a big mistake in Atlantic City: RESCUE ME PART I: In the back bays off North Wildwood, firefighters plucked a man out of waist-deep mud after his personal watercraft broke down. Earlier the same day in the same area, the mate on a local fishing boat scooped a little dog up in a net after it became separated from its people off the family's dock. Heroes are everywhere.RESCUE ME PART II: Beach chairs went flying when a 27-foot boat came roaring ashore in North Wildwood, but luckily no one aboard or on the sand was injured. State police blamed "inexperience and an equipment failure." Better luck next trip. FINALLY FREE: Seventeen months ago, a federal judge set four New Jersey men free after more than 20 years in prison. But they weren't free of a threat from the Department of Justice's appeal, which if successful could have sent them back. The case is finally over. GUADAGNO, OUT: Kim Guadagno toughed it out in the Republican Party through the Christie years, and through her own gubernatorial campaign, but she's now gone unaffiliated. Former Gov. Christie Whitman threatened to leave the GOP a few months back. WHAT'S THE DEAL, A.C.: So the Atlantic City Council wants other towns' tourist dollars but not its people dealing with addiction, do I have this straight? How else is there to read "We shouldn't have to take care of other peoples' issues," which was among the reasons council members gave for voting to close the city's safe injection site? Finally this week, shoutout to the latest Jersey Legends of Summer: First, Landon Lucas was flying an ancient-looking banner plane near A.C. when he began having engine trouble. Dude made a highway landing on the Ocean City causeway bridge like no big deal.
In Wildwood, 13-year-old Kiley Holman was riding a scary-looking thing called the SpringShot when a seagull whacked her in the face and got stuck in her safety harness. The ride video (seriously, watch the video) shows a shocked Kiley grab the wayward bird and just fling it aside, then continue flipping and whirling like an absolute boss.
Until next week, keep it Jersey, dear friends, and seriously: Get those masks ready.
P.S.: Jasayde Holder should still be alive, playing with her sparklers on a summer night. Shame on all of us.
P.P.S.: Doing a little back-to-school shopping? A subscription to NJ.com makes a great gift for the college student in your life. Ask me how I know!
Amy Z. Quinn Audience Editor
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