Mondays with Mike: Just do it

If more people do the right thing, we can go to a game with our friends.

I went to a White Sox game Saturday—it’s my fifth visit this year and it was technically my sixth game because one of my visits was a doubleheader. The park was still limited to 60 percent plus an all-vaccinated section of the bleachers that didn’t count against the 60 percent. Unlike the first couple games, fans were allowed to roam the park freely, and were not confined to their sections.

I’ve been to the office a few times, and for the first time in a long while, I was physically with colleagues. And, our office had an outdoor party at a lovely spot called Theatre on the Lake.  It’s a working theatre with a bar/restaurant and a huge outdoor deck. I’ve never been that hot on office get-togethers, they can feel stiff and awkward and forced.

But this was an absolute riot, partly because Phius, the non-profit I work for, has essentially double its number of employees since last June. The result is that half of us had never been together in the same physical space, we’d only met on Zoom.

Overall, it’s starting to feel kind of normal again.

At least for some of us. A good friend walks this earth with two transplanted lungs and one transplanted kidney. It’s been more than 20 years since he got his lungs and he pretty much will tell you that he’s grateful for every single day of ever year. And that’s how he lives his life. But the world is not reopening for him and his wife.

The COVID vaccines have been found to have very low efficacy in solid organ transplant patients. That’s largely, it’s believed, because the miraculous immunosuppressant drugs that prevent rejection of transplanted organs also prevent transplant patients from building the antibodies that average Joes like I do when vaccinated.

So, as we lucky ones celebrate the reopening, virtually nothing has changed for our friend and his spouse. They have been advised to behave essentially as we all did during full lockdown.,

Selfishly, that really blows. We still can’t have them over for dinner, though we can see them if we take the right precautions.

For them, it’s just heartbreaking.

The vaccine has never been about protecting only one’s self. We protect others, and if we hit herd immunity, our friends can live their lives again. If you’ve been reticent to get the vaccine—or know someone who has put it off, please tell them to do it for our pals, and all the other people in their situation.