How is it like going to the US during Covid-19

In January 2021 I had the opportunity to travel to the US. I understand that it wasn’t the wisest idea because of everything that’s going on around. However, I'll have to defend myself by saying that most of us have been almost the whole year of 2020 stuck at home. Even though it’s what everyone has to do for their safety; it's important to take care of our mental health. Personally, I was going crazy staying all the time at home. I needed to go out and breathe a different air. Plus, my dad bought the tickets without me knowing so…. How could I say no to that great opportunity? But I'm not going to discuss myself. I will be telling my complete experience there and giving my honest opinion about how everything is being handled. 

Let me start off by saying that it was common seeing people not wearing a mask. Of course, most of them wore one but I found myself in situations where I had to leave the place I was in because there were so many people without a mask that my family and I didn't feel safe staying in an environment like that. I do believe that it’s the person’s fault for not wearing a mask but also some places didn’t even require a mask to enter. Most of those places that didn’t require a mask are big markets like Target or Walmart. Nevertheless, masks were indeed required at malls or restaurants. Something else I noticed was that a lot of places didn’t have a maximum capacity. Pretty much everyone could come in and out without having to wait a line; and even though to me that was really cool because I didn't have to wait, it’s wrong because every place should prioritize their customers safety and health. 

Regarding fast food restaurants, most of them were not open to the public and just had the drive thru open. I found this very good and effective. Yet, there were also other restaurants that allowed people to sit down and eat, so of course the tables were distant one from another. In other restaurants they had some plastic separators dividing the tables. In these kinds of restaurants, they did have a maximum capacity that needed to be respected. Additionally, there were multiple touristic places closed, but the ones that weren't still tried to follow a protocol and keep people as far apart as possible. For example, at Atlanta’s aquarium, they had hand sanitizer stations at least at every corner. They also located some plastic separators in front of the tanks so every family could be far away from others while watching the animals. 

Overall, it wasn’t as I thought it would be. I thought I was going to come back from that trip with COVID, but I was totally wrong. Everything was handled well (other than people not wearing face masks) and I felt safe because people respected each other’s space. Of course, I was a little paranoid with my safety and sprayed alcohol everywhere, every ten seconds. I even wore gloves to the malls because I didn’t want to have direct contact with anything. Therefore this is proof about how it just depends on us and the amount of precautions we take regarding COVID. It’s always better to stay home and wait for the vaccines to arrive, so that later on we can go out; but if the opportunity ever comes and for some reason you have to travel to the US, do it. It is a risk, but right now going anywhere is, so what’s important is to take care of yourself and have a good time if you can.