Last week I went on a mini-vacation road trip 2-1/2 hours drive away from Scranton Pennsylvania, for spring migration birdwatching at Montezuma Wetlands Complex in upstate New York. Quadruple vaccinated, took rapid test before leaving, wore an N95 mask everywhere around people and indoors – which was extremely brief & limited. Staying in a tent with my own camp toilet, in an otherwise unoccupied group tenting site at a campground.
The visitors center at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge required masks because it is a federal building and Seneca County NY is in a High Community Level by CDC standards. The Montezuma Audubon Center, which is state owned facility in Wayne County NY, also at High Community Level, and this building also required masks.
It doesn’t seem like a huge burden to take steps to avoid a potentially dangerous damaging disease, and taking those steps to avoid it seems very worth it to me. This should happen society wide and before the hospitals are in potential jeopardy.
I look forward to a day when a birding trip doesn’t carry excess risk. I have to believe a better world is possible.