I got my 2nd Covid vaccination early in the morning of Saturday, February 13th at the Armory in Manhattan. It goes without saying, it was an enormous relief. I was looking forward to that day for a year.

I’m now 3 weeks past that date, with the awareness that I have about a 95% efficacy against getting Covid. At least the old form of Covid, that’s been around since last winter. But these new variants are worrisome. So, even fully vaccinated, my life looks and feels pretty much the same as it did before.

I’m still walking around with 2 masks and put over them a face shield whenever I walk into a store. I try not to go into stores if I can help it and, when I do, I don’t stay very long. My Purell bottle is always in a pocket of my coat.

I haven’t eaten inside or outside in a NYC restaurant in over a year and will not be joining other New Yorkers at the movies or in museums, when they are allowed in at modest percentages.

Like most of us, I wonder when we’ll ever be able to go back to the way it was.