Yell for Yellow! Making pandumbical progress

What in the world does that mean?!?!? Yell at a yellow light to stay yellow till you get through it? Yell at the yellow stuff you dripped on your clothes while eating a hot dog? Or the worst—yelling at that yellow stain spreading across your lap after you've laughed too hard at something...

But Yellow is a good thing in this case. It's the final tier and least restrictive of the COVID-19 color tier system. It may be a thing in other states, but it's definitely a thing here in California. 

It is estimated that our county (and certainly others) should be moving to the Yellow tier in the next week or two. With the number of COVID-19 cases dropping statewide, Gavinor Newsance claims that the color tier system could be gone, extinct, kaput by June 15. My guess is that once that happens, it means that we'll no longer be under restrictions as to how many people can be in a restaurant, sports facility, theater, theme park, etc. Call it "almost" back to pre-pandemic levels. This doesn't/shouldn't mean that we can let down our guard. Continuing to social distance, wash our hands, and wear face coverings will be a good idea for at least awhile. With more people receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccines now available, we should reach herd immunity, which is a major turning point.

And things should improve significantly from that point on.

Orange you glad we're making progress?

Danger! I'm being punny again. Our county just moved to the Orange tier of the state's COVID risk factor system the middle of last week. Only one more tier left to go: Yellow. Maybe I'm just jump-up-and-down, golly gee, giddy glad that we've taken yet another step toward the end of the colored tiers here in California. Even Gavinor Newsance says that they can throw out the COVID color tier system by as early as June 15. What a relief that will be! Imagine going to a building dedicated to one purpose—putting food on a table in front of us so we can chow down. And filling my own cup at the Freestyle machine! Haven't done those things in ages!

That may not mean the end of needing to wear face coverings, though. While the end of the color tier system may mean fewer restrictions on us, continuing to wear our face coverings may be a wise thing to do. There will still be a risk of catching the dreaded coronavirus, though not as much. It would be wise for certain individuals [points at self] with a chronic illness (in my case, two) to continue wearing their face coverings despite being fully vaccinated (which I will be soon). Better safe than sorry.

Interestingly, I recently got a text message from my sister about arranging a visit to Six Flags Magic Mountain sometime soon now that the park has reopened. Other parks in the state will reopen within the next month or two. SFMM is requiring would-be guests to make a reservation to visit in order to comply with a state-imposed limitation of the number of guests in the parks. (Imagine if parks limited the number of guests in the parks all the time! No more packed-to-the-gills theme parks! That would be a theme park fan's fantasy come true!)

Strange as it sounds, there have been a few benefits to having limitations on travel and activities. Fewer people crowded together, less traffic for faster commutes among them. But getting our normal lives back will be a blessing. I'm looking forward to that!