Well, so much for a COVID-free trip to Star Island this year

[edschweppe]

A few weeks back, I noted that Star's COVID policy had changed for the worse. Instead of requiring conferees to test themselves for COVID prior to arriving at the dock, we're now "expected (but not required)" to do so. Today, I received an email from Justina Maji, the island's Conference Center Director, with updates on what to expect on Sunday when I get to the dock. This included the following paragraph:

A note about health

Before you visit Star Island, please consider whether or not you or anyone in your party have symptoms of and/or exposure to COVID or any other communicable diseases. With an uptick in the number of COVID cases nationally, it is no surprise that we have seen a few cases of COVID on the island this season. We are in a close congregant setting, and we have some important health protocols in place – please review them before you come to the island. Also, as a reminder, please help protect our community by taking a test before going out to the island.

Surprise, surprise, surprise: if you don't test everyone before they get on the boat, some of the folks getting on the boat will have infections.

I'm still going, but clearly this time I'll be masking up indoors and minimizing my time in indoor public spaces. Just like every other day in this world where the public health emergency is officially over but the virus doesn't care.

Fuck.