There is nothing like a road trip to provide first hand
observation on the state of our country. Like many others, we have endured
several months of listening to conflicting news commentary on the status of the
post vaccine economy and the confusion surrounding masking policy. A trip that took us through four neighboring
states and the District of Columbia offered a real-time experience on the reopening
of America.
Our departure was two weeks before Memorial Day. The weather
prospects were clear and warm. We rented a beach house in Chincoteague Virginia,
along with two other couples. We visit this small “other world” community on a
regular basis, usually out of season before Memorial Day and well after Labor Day.
If you go, avoid Vrbo and Airbnb and call the local realtors directly. This
will save you fees and leave more money on the island.
Our drive through West Virginia and Maryland was uneventful.
The pit stops revealed few travelers or store personnel wearing masks. The parking lots were littered with old masks
leaving little doubt what pandemic evidence would show up in the geological
record a thousand years from now.
The town of
Chincoteague is connected to the National Refuge on Assateague Island. This 37-mile-long barrier island along the
Atlantic coasts of Maryland and Virginia includes adjacent marsh islands and
ocean waters. The park offers an extraordinary beach experience that allows
visitors to enjoy wildlife and outdoor activities in a beautiful natural
setting. About 3.2 million people visit the national seashore annually to boat,
bird-watch, fish, hunt, crab, clam, camp, ride over-sand vehicles and see the
park's famous wild horses.
We go to
Chincoteague for the fresh flounder, raw oysters and soft shell crabs, all of
which were in season. The restaurants
maintained a mask policy and were thrilled to see a party of six hungry patrons
come through their doors. The 2020
tourist season was a total loss for most establishments, and several have
closed.
The retail
shops in town were an interesting dichotomy when it came to masking policy.
Island residents who go back generations were done with enforcing regulations
and happily posted door signs stating, “no masks required.” Conversely, newer
residents like the millennial bookstore owner, tended to be more concerned with
health standards, and were keeping strict wipe-down and masking policies in
place.
We spent
several hours with a fifth generation waterman who now makes his living taking
small groups of tourists on ecological tours. COVID regulations were not on his
radar. He made it clear that island residents were not happy that the famous
Chincoteague “Pony Penning” event was canceled for the second year in a
row. This July extravaganza attracts
thousands of tourists, with fat wallets, to view the penning and purchase
fouls.
Few masks were
in evidence on the beach and hiking trails. This was not unexpected given the
general lifting of mask requirements for outdoor activities in Virginia. Except
for the canceled July influx of tourists for Pony Penning, the rentals are
seeing evidence of a normal season.
After five days,
our Chincoteague adventure was over. The
other couples headed home as we drove to Old Town Alexandria, Virginia for a
weekend at our nation’s capital. Timed
tickets to the Smithsonian museums became available for the first time since March
2020 in the middle of May 2021. Our
first choices were not available, but we landed tickets for The National Museum
of Women’s Art for Sunday afternoon and parking/admission passes for the
National Zoo on Monday.
It was clear
upon our arrival that indoor pandemic procedures were still enforced in the District of Columbia and
surrounding communities. This area, which experienced 49,000 COVID cases and
1200 deaths, appeared to be emerging from hibernation on a beautiful late
spring weekend. There were singles, couples, families, elderly with canes and
walkers and many dogs on leashes everywhere we went. Our weary Sunday afternoon
Uber driver dropped off his last fare from a busy Saturday evening at 3 am
Sunday morning.
The museums and
restaurants continued to follow masking protocols. The National Zoo was the
most interesting of all venues we visited. We observed hundreds of small
children outside, walking or in carriages, who were wearing masks of every
description.
The masks were
lifted for ice cream and drinks only.
Most parents were also masked, presumably to set the tone. I did not hear
one child complain about mask wearing. It was simply a familiar accessory to
their outfit, permitting them to escape the confines of home for the day. Had they been available, the Zoo could have
sold several thousand panda masks.
Our takeaway
after a week on the road is that attempts to politicalize mask wearing is not
the reality on the ground. There was no evidence of oppressive regulations
interfering with individual freedoms. Families out for the day have turned
public health protection into a common ritual. No one is agitated when an
individual or family chooses not to mask-up while outside. Patrons respected
the rules of private establishments as a necessary inconvenience in order to
shop or eat at restaurants.
Now we know to
ignore the publicized outlier incident that turns masking into a fistfight, or
the rogue politician who equates mask requirements with policies in Nazi
Germany. The country is recovering from
the pandemic just fine.
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TUUU
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