In high school I shared a bedroom with my sister, nearly two years my junior and a general pain in the butt back then (she’s OK now). I’d get up in the morning and she wouldn’t get out of bed. I’d use the bathroom, get dressed and she still wasn’t out of bed. I knew the minute I selected what she would wear, she’d hop out of bed and be dressed in time to go downstairs for a quick breakfast before walking to school. Did I want to tell her what to wear? No way!

I knew that if I went downstairs to breakfast alone, I’d get in trouble for not getting my sister up and out of bed on time for school. She knew that too, which is why she started this charade of making me her wardrobe arbiter so I was damned if I did, damned if I didn’t.

That’s how I feel about COVID-19. This is just one person’s opinion, but I hate that this killer disease was politicized in the USA from the get-go. I did everything right, stayed home, learned to grocery shop online and thanked my delivery people with a good tip and a “thanks for being there.” We took a major hit financially that will, as of next month, begin to ease. We got the vaccine the first day it was available for all. Now, with the new Delta variant, our state is up there in new cases and I wear a mask indoors.

I don’t like that governments lean toward punishing the people who did everything right, who kowtow to and even reward those I call “vacc-idiots.” There are good folks who can’t get the vaccine for health reasons. I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about the so-called “red states” who now have residents hospitalized or in morgues because they think it’s wrong to take the vaccine because Trump won’t like it (he’s vaccinated) or because Biden will get some kind of credit for it.

Ii read of secret rooms in hospitals where Republicans to go get vaccinated so they won’t be shunned by their friends. C’mon people. Get the shots for you, for your family and friends, and for the supermarket checker and mailman who have been so nice to you for years. Get it for your kid’s classmates and teacher.

My husband has to go overseas this month to complete his training so that he can earn a living. With the way things are going with the Delta variant, even vaccinated Americans won’t be welcome in the EU unless things turn around quickly. Our lives, literally and financially, depend on America’s herd immunity before new variants emerge that our vaccinations don’t know about and we have to start this fight all over again.

COVID-19 is one sly bug. It doesn’t care about your politics. I’m for everyone showing a negative test or proof of vaccine to get into work, a store, restaurant or event. Or on public transportation. I won’t take UBER because only their senior office staff is required to be vaccinated, not their drivers. It’s really scary to think that I could get it from an anti-vaxxer who is running around mask-less, be asymptomatic and give it unknowingly to someone without a vaccine, who could die. I don’t want that on my conscience.

Governors who are banning masks, vaccine requirements/”passports” are doing it to get re-elected or in Gov. DeSantis’ case, running for president. To those who won’t get a vaccine, look at who’s telling you not to get one. You can be reasonably sure that they’re vaccinated. Don’t trust people who talk out of both sides of their mouth. Please get vaccinated. You’ll help save us all. Dee