I am not sure I see the logic of this. You are getting vaccinated precisely for the reason (among others) to be around many other people vaccinated and non-vaccinated as vaccines, as science has proven, prevent hospitalizations and deaths. In other words (IMHO) getting both doses of vaccine should liberate you and enable to at least partially get your life back and start practicing your hobby again.
I think a lot of people have an " I’ll wait until most people have been vaccinated to resume social activities" attitude.
Some of the airlines are looking at having ‘must be vaccinated’ requirements for passengers and employees, but development of a reliable (eg, hard to fake) ‘vaccination passport’ seem to be running into problems, both technical and societal/political, especially in the USA.
In addition to that, I want to be “liberated” not just from the risk of catching the disease (vaccination, for which I have already made two appointments (Mar. 26 and Apr. 16), will accomplish this), but also from the necessity of wearing a mask while playing and obsessively sanitizing my hands throughout the tournament. I do not plan to play or direct until those requirements go away, and my getting vaccinated does not accomplish that. It’s beyond my control.
Although being vaccinated will, as far as I know, enable me to do lots of things without unduly risking my own health, I don’t have a problem with continuing to wear a mask for a while longer after that. A mask is an annoyance, not a hardship. If chess players that I hang out with want to feel comfortable about being in the same room with me, my wearing a mask is a small price to pay.
Agreed. The nice thing is that simple things - like eating - will be less of an issue. Depending upon how quickly people get vaccinated and the rate of viral mutation, masks could be here a while. Remember, vaccines are currently available to 16 and up. By fall, likely 12 and up. Under 12 could be as late as 2022. That’s still a significant part of the population - around 15%.
So basically, to get to herd immunity before then, every single person age 12 and up will need to be vaccinated.
It’s a bit more than an annoyance if you wear glasses, as I do. They instantly fog up when I put a mask on, and I can neither evaluate positions nor keep score when I can’t see. I could probably see well enough to play without my glasses, but not well enough to keep score. Also, I don’t mind washing my hands regularly, but I absolutely hate sanitizer. I don’t want to put anything smelly or sticky on my hands unless I’m gong to rinse it off immediately afterward. It also tends to get all over everything else. When I go to the store, I can’t even put my stuff down on the counter because there’s always a big puddle of sanitizer there. Yuck.
I am very sure of Bernard Friend that he was not a master prior to 1991. He was more a victim of the USCF rating system then anything, and prior to 1991, I was living in NJ before I started my relocations and before relocating, I know that Bernard had not achieved the National Master rating. When I had moved on to Atlanta in 1994, I always kept in touch with my friends here in NJ, and when I was told that Bernard finally cracked the 2200 barrier, I could not be more happier! I think in our head to head battles, he defeated me the first 4 times that we played, and I had achieved the Master title in the latter part of 1987, and always asked Bernard, why he had not achieved that title? He was one of the very first people to congratulate me on my title, and in a way, I felt badly for him.
As for my “comfort level” of playing OTB chess, it will take me a while to get back into it, and like other posters before me have stated, it would be hard to concentrate on the game while wearing a mask. I also wear glasses as well, and even when I do a simple task like food shopping, my glasses fog up, I buy the wrong cheese, and just imagine what kind of blunders I would commit, when my food shopping prowess leaves less to be desired? (LOL)
All kidding aside, one has to be comfortable when competing, and if this is the “New Normal”, then okay. Rather be safe than sorry, and one of these days, OTB chess will return in earnest. I still have that goal of competing in a tournament in all 50 States and have been stuck at 37 States for many years.
Respectfully Submitted,
David A. Cole, USCF Life Member
Some masks do a better job of keeping your glasses from fogging up than others. Whether that impacts their primary function is a separate issue.
I am not sure what you mean by, “vaccines are currently available to 16 and up.” Maybe where you live. In GA they just last Monday allowed the 55-64 age group to register to be vaccinated. If you’re under age 55 and not in a special group like health care workers you still aren’t eligible.
The only way to get a mask that does what it is supposed to do and doesn’t fog up your glasses is to get an N95 mask fitted to your face…I have the KN95, but it isn’t fitted, and I have the problem of my glasses fogging up a bit as well, though not to the point of making it impossible to see. My vision is also good enough that I can do most things without my glasses and not have a problem. As long as I don’t have to read fine print I’m basically OK.
He meant that there is no version of vaccine at the time of this writing, that is officially approved to be administered to children under 16. For children 16-17 Pfizer is the only approved choice. I am part of the group on FB where people discuss all kind of topics surrounding vaccinations as well as strategies to get a shot at left-over doses that would otherwise get discarded. A story of 11 year old girl was discussed, she contracted Covid-19 last year and developed serious breathing issues. There is some anecdotal evidence that vaccine helps older adults who contracted Covid-19 to alleviate so called “long hauler” issues. In case of this girl parents were trying to get her vaccinated and were told the only way is for her to participate in trials.
I too wear glasses. I just use the regular surgical masks. You can pinch the wire at the top so that it clings better to your nose, and then push it up and put the glasses on over it, and that usually works reasonably well for me.
I too dislike hand sanitizer. I don’t have any clever solutions to recommend for that. But, we’ll see how bad things are, if and when I get a chance to actually go to a chess event.
I don’t mind the good hand sanitizers, but a lot of what’s out there for the consumer market today may be effective but feels strange and leaves your hands feeling gummy.
I haven’t quite figured out the point of using an anti-bacterial hand sanitizer against a virus anyway. But it doesn’t bother me for occasional use.
Most hand sanitizers have not been tested specifically against COVID-19, but ones based on at least 60% alcohol have been proven effective at killing other types of coronaviruses, so the assumption is that they are probably effective against COVID-19.
Not necessarily medically true on either account. Vaccines are effective to varying degrees. They do help the public at large and may help individuals. But they are not magic wands on an individual level which convey the ability to automatically return to safety. And until there are enough vaccinations to achieve herd immunity (if there ever are - it is still uncertain if enough people will choose vaccination to reach that point) there is a degree of public risk.
Reduced risk? Yes. But we may well be beginning yet another spike because people think because vaccines are out things may return to normal now and not later. That is aside from considering that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, for example, is rated at 68% effectiveness - 50% is the minimum for Emergency Use Authorization status from FDA. It is still worthwhile to get given how it seems to have reduced hospitalizations in those who received it in Stage 3 trials. And in the next year we’ll see what happens with mutations and current effectiveness, and that cannot be truly predicted by anyone.
The other aspect is that the vaccines currently out take 9-11 days (average) to reach full efficacy after the dose is delivered, and for safety’s sake when I do 2nd Covid vaccinations I tell people that it will not be fully effective until 14 days have passed. Because it takes time for the active immune system to do its job - that’s what vaccines do at heart is short-circuit that waiting time upon exposure.
So… my expectations are that when infection rates have bent back downward and stabilized then OTB might be considered again under highly controlled conditions. We are not close enough for me to actually think about what those numbers are like, as we just passed out of a completely out-of-control infection period (which very nearly broke the ability to give care) and may yet easily go there again in the next few weeks. For myself personally I work with a high risk population. I have both had the virus and am fully vaccinated with Moderna. I still limit my activities as much as I can to protect those I serve. I do not consider exposing myself to over the board play to be a wise choice at this time and do not expect it to be for at least three to six months. YMMV.
(Hope this was yours…) At the place where I get my lenses crafted for my glasses (wink), they sell an anti-fog spray. It does matter how your glasses fit and how your mask is as to its effectiveness. I have a pair of clear lensed Ray-Bans that it does not work well on, but I have a second pair of Armani Exchange glasses that I wear while on duty because the spray really works well on them and works throughout my shift.
Last time I had checked, 74 vaccinated U.S. people have died from COVID.
Vaccines are not perfect. “Real normal” occurs when most of the World is vaccinated to about an 85% level for a time (perhaps a year or more,) such that the virus recedes to a point of “eradication.” This works best if done quickly. If it takes too long, the virus continues to mutate, and surviving strains will be less impacted by the vaccine (since they will have been through that vaccine “filter.”)
If we were all on the same page with “the science” versus “the politics,” it would be wise to continue to wear masks whenever in a non-socially distance-able situation outside of our normal “bubble” until the virus receded to an eradication level. The likelihood is that will not happen, and that we will live with COVID forever (or at least a very long time) with periodic booster shots to control the virus.
And that’s sad because it’s within our power, but not within the collective intelligence or will of the human species, to eradicate this virus.
CDC, WHO, etc., all now report that the virus is extraordinarily unlikely to transmit via contact with surfaces. Handwashing and hand sanitizers are still important, but the excessive cleaning many of us did at the start of the pandemic is not useful.
Personally, WHO had lost much of its credibility before COVID-19, and not much that WHO has said or done regarding COVID-19 has helped to restore that lost credibility.