Just for the record, we, that is, those of us who live in Lincoln County, seem to be doing pretty well in the pandemic department.

Almost 68% of our friends and neighbors have gotten both shots of vaccine. More than 70% of us had one, as of Aug. 1, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control website.

That said, I see a lot of new faces in town, especially at the Hannaford Supermarkets in Boothbay Harbor and Damariscotta and Shaw’s in Wiscasset.

Parking lots and streets are jammed with out-of-state cars. The regular weekend traffic jam for folks trying to drive up Route 1 into Wiscasset ranges from a mile to much more. Same for folks going back home on Sunday after church.

Lots of tourists are visiting our communities. This is great for our business friends who deserve to ring up a good summer season after the pandemic did to their 2020 profit and loss statements what Mike Tyson would do to you if you were stupid enough to get in the ring with him.

National health experts tell us those of us who are vaccinated are not likely to catch the COVID bug, but, and there is always a but, those of us who are fully vaccinated can catch the Delta variant and transmit it to others. They say wearing a mask indoors can reduce their risk of catching it and passing it on to others. This is important for people whose immune systems are compromised and those who live in a household where someone is at risk.

According to the CDC, people at increased risk for severe disease include older adults and those with certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, overweight, or heart conditions. If you are interested in rambling through the official CDC website filled with bureaucratic language and dozens of colorful graphs, charts, and columns of numbers, be my guest.

Of course, we don't know how many of our neighbors have been vaccinated or not. We don't know their health status, either. It is none of our business anyhow. But we do know that nearly 30% of our county's residents are affected with a chronic fatal disease known as TMB.

For those of you who are not medical doctors or health care professionals, TMB stands for "Too Many Birthdays." Lots of us are senior citizens. We are just old. We have passed our "sell by" date.

And I can attest that all of my friends and neighbors agree with Kenny Chesney's song that goes like this:

"Everybody wants to go to heaven. Have a mansion high above the clouds.

“Everybody wants to go to heaven,

“But nobody wants to go now."

That is why lots of us spend way too many days talking to health care providers for one reason or another. We swallow pills by the dozens, some of them that seem to be the size of whoopie pies. We accept that our joints crack and pop when we get into and out of bed. We sneak over to the medicine cabinet and gobble Tylenol when our back, hips, or shinbones give us problems.

When our pals and loved ones ask how we feel today, we lie and say, “We are fine, thanks for asking,” rather than tell the truth, for it is none of their darn business anyway that the left hip is on fire or the internal plumbing is on strike again.

And, to tell the truth, they don't care anyway. They have their own health issues and would rather not talk about them anyway.

So, should we hook our masks on again when we go to the grocery store? The CDC says it is a good idea.

For the record, this is not a political question. I have no wish to get into the murky electronic waters where the pro-mask/anti-mask, pro-vaccine/anti-vaccine adherents live and argue.

But at our house, we checked out the recommendations from the Maine and National CDC experts and, having little faith in the advice of people who got their medical education at Google U, we will mask up when going to the store.

It just makes sense to us.

As for you, you are on your own.

Be well. Be safe.