This week the Courant published a hard truth, and what those of us reading the hard data for awhile already knew: Hartford’s vaccination rate, besides just being woefully low, points out major disparities when compared to the rate in West Hartford.

Hartford isn’t a ghost town, but we could wind up that way if people don’t get it together and get vaccinated or assist in others getting vaccinated.

One approach, that seems to be doing something, is to bring vaccination clinics to where people are, such as the recent Taste of Caribbean and Jerk Festival. While I am thrilled to have had my shots done months ago, would I have preferred to wait in line and get my injection while listening to a live steel drum performance with the river in view and the scent of barbecue distracting me from any anxiety I had about rare adverse reactions?

Want to bring a mobile vaccination clinic to your workplace? Art opening? Wedding reception? Here is the information about how to make this happen.

Last weekend, there were at least two other clinics scheduled near popular Sunday brunch spots. Getting a little impulse Pfizer or J&J after bottomless mimosas is probably one of the healthier choices a person could make.

Something I have wondered about, based on all the articles insisting that people are reached when they meet with their doctors, is whether or not doctors are reaching out to their patients, rather than waiting on the patient to initiate this. If my vet can send postcards reminding me to bring my cat in for her annual check-up, surely physicians can send tailored-to-vaccination postcards to their clients.

Vaccine mandates at schools, universities, and workplaces would help too. Some employers already require things like tuberculosis screenings. This is not new territory.

Starting this Friday, BAR in New Haven is requiring patrons show proof of vaccination or a current negative Covid test. If you’ve had their mashed potato pizza, you know this is a small price to pay for admission.

(To be honest, I don’t get carded for drinks anymore, so being asked to show a document to get served will be a nice bit of nostalgia)

It would help if more business owners and those tasked with making decisions about an organization’s policies understood HIPAA instead of parroting nonsense they read on Facebook.

There’s all this attention given to the people who refuse to go anywhere if masks or vaccines are required, but I would love to see this kind of attention given to those folks who are going nowhere non-essential still, including indoor locations where people can opt out of wearing masks.

It would also help if businesses looked carefully at the language of State mandates: the State might not be requiring such and such, but that does not mean that a private business can’t decide what it’s practices will be. The vast majority of us willingly meet requirements we may not agree with when we know we will not be served otherwise; maybe I don’t wanna put on shoes and a shirt, but if I want to be allowed in the supermarket, I have to suck it up. If only we could stretch our puritanical rules so that they included practices that assist in better public health.

Most of the photos in this post were shot while I was wearing a mask — outdoors in hot weather — because of crowds. Am I resentful that I had to sweat like that? You bet. The only masks at carnival should be decorative, but we’re not even close to that being a safe option right now. Not in Hartford.

I was also only able to get these shots because of a zoom lens on my camera. Otherwise, I would have needed to stand in the exceptionally crowded space, which felt like the wrong choice at the wrong time.

With that said, it was worth enduring the heat to see the amazing stilts dancers, especially the young miss with her purple cape. She was concentrating on her moves!

There were other events going on, and people just walking around.

Please, get your pets spayed and neutered, and get yourself vaccinated already. If I have to wear a mask in the hot sun again this time next year. . .