I'm part of the 6 percent club!

The estimate is that the vaccine reaches its full protection effects about two weeks after that second shot.

My wife and I had our second Pfizer shots this past Sunday, with some arm soreness for a day but no other flu-like symptoms, and we are looking at being able to at least consider some "normal" activities by March 8. 

I see that 5.89 percent of the country has had BOTH shots at this point, which seems like a "too small" number, but I can sense momentum. About 14 percent have had ONE shot, which seems like better news.

We are seriously considering starting to travel again, maybe to visit our grandsons in Seattle who we have not see in person since Christmas, 2019.

How about that? 

On the other hand, I found out that a 7th grade cousin of our granddaughters here in Denver tested positive and has cold-like symptoms. And one of our son-on-law's brothers and his wife have the virus. They live in Golden. The wife has lost taste and smell, and we hope that will pass soon.

And you still see stories of adults in the 40s who get the virus and end up going to the ER due to breathing problems, including a neighbor of our Denver daughter. 

The observation yesterday that the U.S. now has recorded over half a million deaths due to COVID-19 prompted some news stories and the White House held a memorial to honor the dead and all those living affected by those deaths. 

But I think of all those deaths as "just a number," I guess. No one in our families has died (thus far) of the virus. 

Just like "all politics is local," so is the case with grieving over premature deaths. If the deaths are not local, it's tough to fully engage the heart, at least for me. 

Millions are still boiling water in Texas, to cite another major crisis, and that seems more immediate to me since I have quite a few friends in Texas and they regularly have reported on their ruined floors and walls, their frozen pipes, their searching for water and food. 

It's all a good reminder of a key aspect of news: proximity. If it doesn't happen in my neighborhood, it's tough to get quite as fired up about it.