PCA Magazine Show Issue 2021

50 PCA The Magazine | SHOW 2021 PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG BY WI LL I AM C . NELSON The Pipe | T The Reemergence I GOT VACCINATED IN APRIL —two doses of Moderna. Now, supposedly, I have my life back. And yet, six weeks after my second dose (as of this writing) I still have not taken a meal indoors in a restaurant. I still have not ventured inside any grocery store, choosing instead to go on taking my orders via curbside service. I’m still masking up when I dash inside a convenience store for some knickknack, or a restaurant for take-out—and not only out of consideration for the business’s personnel, who I see are themselves still wearing masks, but also just for my own sense of security. I’ve got local friends who I know are fully vaccinated, but I have not set foot in anyone’s house but my own in 14 months. It is taking me time to learn to live again. The past year was traumatic—something few of us will ever forget or fully get over. Call me a scaredy-cat if you will; there are no old, bold pilots. Also, despite improving conditions, it bears remembering that this plague is still killing people at a brisk rate. I recall May 13 when I first heard the announcement that the CDC was relaxing its masking guidance for fully vaccinated people. Instantly, a celebratory air broke out in the news media. I watched a CNN anchor get all dewy-eyed with joy on camera, intoning, “It feels a little bit like it’s over today, doesn’t it?” Well, it wasn’t over, and it still isn’t, except for the 500-plus Americans who have died every day, on average, since that newsman’s fatuous comment—nearly 10,000 Americans in just the past month, as of this writing. (For them, — Some of us are finally sneaking out of our shells.