Earlier, the CDC announced that masks are no longer required for people who have been fully vaccinated. The MN Governor followed with an announcement that he would remove the mask mandates in the state.

On the surface, this is great news. it comes with confidence from the vaccination studies that vaccinated people are not spreading the virus, and that the apparent effectiveness of the vaccines is keeping vaccinated people from becoming seriously ill. This is tremendous relief, but the fight isn't over.

This is on the heels of an announcement the Governor made earlier that mask requirements would be removed by the time 70% of eligible people were fully vaccinated, or 1 July, whichever came first. MN is reporting that over 60% of eligible people over 16, as those 12-16 have only recently been allowed vaccines, have been fully vaccinated. That 60% eligible is still not quite half of the population, as the kids younger than 12, the ineligible, and the 40% eligible but not yet vaccinated, is still the other half of the population. We're approaching, but not yet at herd immunity.

The Governor said he was going to leave it to businesses and individuals to be responsible and mask when not vaccinated, or handle their environments responsibly. Some businesses will surely continue to require (or strongly request) masks for everyone. Some families may still mask until all of their members are vaccinated. And, sadly, some un-vaccinated people will simply hear "end of mask requirements" and move about unmasked.

We've talked and will continue to mask in public when we're with unknown people or groups with children, to help model and encourage ours to keep their masks on.

It's a new game, but the old game isn't really done yet.

Everyone is healthy.