- Serving Worldwide
“Back on Monday night from a long Columbus Day weekend in Georgia, we filed our required
Massachusetts Travel Form, got tested Tuesday morning and were positively pleased to receive negative COVID results late Wednesday afternoon.
We flew through Atlanta to Savannah. We ate in restaurants in close proximity; took tours with other couples not wearing masks; visited old houses and new museums in groups; and stayed in highly rated bed and breakfasts that despite good intentions were not that thoroughly cleaned.
Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport was filled to capacity, while Logan Airport was deserted. Massachusetts requires visiting citizens of Georgia to quarantine for 14 days or show proof of a negative test result; Georgia imposes no restrictions on its visitors.
We were supposed to go on this trip in April, but by March we’d had to postpone our reservations till October because everything there was closed. Despite imposition of the Massachusetts travel mandates in August, we decided to keep these reservations.
My 92-year old mother didn’t know when we were leaving on this trip. She called 66-year old me when we were already there to advise against going because Georgia was “one of the worst states”.
My wife Susan is concerned enough about the safety issues that she wore her mask consistently in the presence of others. I tended to follow the example of others in that regard. We had to wear masks on the airplanes, in hotel lobbies and entering public buildings.
When Georgia began reopening in May, Governor Baker called down to warn them against it and Mayor Walsh insisted they’d be closed again in two weeks.
The public health emergency announced here in the beginning of March was over concern that our health care system was not prepared for the most extreme possibilities. The press publicized predictions such as more than 24,000 Massachusetts residents could require a ventilator.
To my satisfaction, I’ve studied the science (Janeway’s Immunobiology by Kenneth Murphy & Casey Weaver) and followed the data. I’ve continued traveling for the love of it and to test the limits we in Massachusetts have been told would result in contracting COVID-19. Living life has consequences; I’d be glad I went regardless.”
Steven M. Glovsky (stevenglovsky@gmail.com)
Wayland, MA