We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the Delta Variant of the coronavirus and how it has been spreading in some parts of the country. Has this affected our thinking here in the Berkshires? 

Have you started to notice that more and more people in the Berkshires are wearing masks in public places again? I went into Market 32 in Lenox just the other day and thought that I had missed a sign telling me to wear a mask. It seemed to me that a majority of the people that were shopping at the store were indeed wearing a face covering. At first, I figured those wearing a mask were possibly not vaccinated yet, but then I started to notice a lot of customers were wearing them. 

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on face coverings Tuesday, as the delta variant continues to fuel a surge of infections across the United States. The CDC is now recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in areas where the variant is prevalent.  

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According to the CDC, the nation is averaging more than 57,000 cases a day and 24,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. The new guidance on wearing masks in indoor public places applies in parts of the U.S. with at least 50 new cases per 100,000 people in the last week. 

They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so if it eventually comes down to another mask mandate here in Massachusetts, how will you respond? Are you willing to start masking up again on a regular basis, or have you just had enough already?  

I’ll wear a face-covering if I have to, but I don’t have to like it. Neither do you, but hopefully, you will respond in kind. In the meantime, let's also hope that people in the commonwealth and the rest of the country continue to get vaccinated.  

 

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