Fair Regrets

It's Fair Season. We've chosen not to attend any of our local fairs because it doesn't feel safe funneling thousands of people together in tight quarters with variants surging all over the rural US. I will miss walking among show cows and funnel cakes this weekend. I love the fair, and seeing everything from 4-H livestock shows to crafts to eating food fried 8 different ways. Sigh.

Only half of Washington County is vaccinated and I doubt at this point those numbers will rise. Plenty of children aren't (or can't be, if under 12) vaccinated and children are a pretty common feature of summer ag fairs.

I hope everything is safe and we are being overly cautious but so many people in rural areas are ignoring this entire pandemic, as if their location makes them immune to the disease. It doesn't, and it won't matter how vaccinated you are if you're the reason a variant spreads or gets into the schools like it has in Tennessee and other Southern states with lower vaccination rates.

So I will miss this fair. Miss, not regret.