As a runner, news about Eliza Fletcher has been all over the sites I frequent.  It is much like the outcry after Ahmaud Arbery’s death.  I have a lot of the same emotions now that I did then.  I think the appropriate emotions in both cases are anger and sadness.  I feel incredibly sad that Eliza’s two children, ages 5 and 7, will grow up without their mother.  Since having kids, there’s something about a child losing their mother that bothers me in a really irrational visceral way.  It’s hard to explain.

Nevertheless, the emotion that I don’t think is appropriate is fear, any more than you should feel afraid to get on a plane because a plane crashed somewhere.  Yes, you might die in a plane crash, but it’s very unlikely.  It doesn’t make sense to be afraid of dying in a plane crash unless you also feel fear every time you into a car.  And in the US, you are LESS likely to be murdered running than to die in a plane crash.  Not a little bit less likely – a lot less likely.  This is true regardless of your gender and race.

Thankfully, murders of runners are very rare.  In the United States, we’re talking low single digits every year, whereas thousands of pedestrians die from being struck by motor vehicles annually.  Running is actually an incredibly safe activity in terms of likelihood of being attacked.  Perhaps it’s because the attacker would have to chase the runner.  I don’t know.

Fletcher was murdered at 4:30 in the morning, but most runners are murdered during the day, possibly because would-be murderers are sleeping early in the morning.  Maybe because women are more likely to run during the day?  I don’t know.

On the one hand, I appreciate the outpouring of grief and sympathy.  Eliza Fletcher was one of our own.  It does bother me a bit that I’m not sure if her family wants this or appreciates it.  All over the country, women are going on runs for Eliza.  Is that meaningful?  I don’t know.  It doesn’t feel meaningful to me, so I won’t be doing it.  The same thing happened with Ahmaud, and I skipped it then, too.  But I can see how some people might find it meaningful.  With that said, I certainly thought of Fletcher on my run this morning.  (ETA: Apparently  many, many women are meeting at 4:30 am to run for Eliza.  I have to say that getting out of bed for a 4:30 am run is a significant step beyond slacktivism and running a run you were going to do anything and dedicating it to someone.  I am moved.)

I appreciate that people are making the point that it’s unacceptable for women to be assaulted and murdered while they’re out for a run.  Yes.  Obviously I wholeheartedly agree.  But unfortunately, in trying to make their point, I feel like people insinuate that this sort of thing happens frequently and that women need to be afraid.  So many runners have posted in Instagram about their fear of being assaulted while running.  And there’s a sort of insinuation that men are somehow responsible.

First, and most importantly, I think it’s incredibly harmful to suggest that running alone is dangerous and that women shouldn’t do it.  As a woman, I shouldn’t have to live my life in fear.  And the great news is that I DON’T have to.  Please don’t tell me I should be afraid when the numbers don’t support it.

Second, “men” aren’t responsible.  The perpetrator in this case was charged with rape as a minor.  ETA: He also had five separate assault charges against him.  Then he kidnapped someone else and spent 20 years in jail for it.  He was released without supervision and was known to have been harrassing women for sex since his release.  He and my husband and your husbands and the vast majority of men on the planet have nothing in common other than gender.  While it’s certainly true that the overwhelming majority of running murder victims are women and close to 100% of the perpetrators are men, I think we need to be a bit more specific about who is committing the crimes.  It’s not helpful to generically complain about male behavior.  My husband doesn’t go around raping and kidnapping and murdering people.  Does yours?

If we want to save runners’ lives, we probably lower speed limits.  If we want to save runners from being murdered, which would save far fewer lives, lifetime sentences for rapists and kidnappers would probably be a good start.  Maybe two strikes you’re out for crimes of kidnapping, rape, murder, and sexual assault of a minor.

I was curious how vaccine recommendations vary from country to country.  See below for what I found.  Considerations for me are, should I vaccine S?  The US is the only English-speaking country in the world that *recommends* vaccines for children under 5, though Canada offers the shot (and some provinces in Canada may recommend it, but their main health body does not.)  Should I boost the girls?  I was going to boost them this summer, but then they got Covid before I had a chance.  Again, no other English-speaking country in the world recommends a booster for that age group, though Canada offers the shot, (and some provinces may recommend it, though their main health body does not.)  And last, should Jonathan and I get a second booster?  No other countries are currently recommending the bivalent booster, but I do think that will change.  My current thought is that we should wait out our current immunity (from getting sick this summer) and then get the booster if and when another surge hits our local area, or 6 months after we got sick, whichever comes first.  My hesitation to get the booster is really just because I got so sick after my second and third shots.  I’d like to just do that once a year and to maximize the benefit from the shot.

USA

• 6 months – 4 years: Basic vaccine recommended, no booster.
• 5-11: If you received a Pfizer vaccine, two doses (basic vaccine) plus booster recommended.  Wait five months for booster.
• 5-11: If you received a Moderna vaccine, two doses (basic vaccine) recommended.  No booster.
• 12-17: Two doses (basic vaccine) plus booster recommended.  Wait two months for booster.
• 18+: Two doses (basic vaccine) plus booster recommended.  Wait two months for booster.
• 12+: Should receive a “bivalent” booster regardless of shots previously received.
• Other boosters were previously recommended for various age groups, but all those recommendations have been replaced with the bivalent booster recommendation.

Ireland

• Under 5: no vaccine recommended
• Ages 5 – 11: Two doses (basic vaccine) recommended, no booster
• Ages 12 – 49: Two doses plus one booster recommended.  Two boosters recommended for those at high risk.
• Ages 50+: Two doses plus two boosters recommended.
• Wait at least four months after a previous booster / vaccine or having Covid to get a booster

UK

• Under 5: no vaccine recommended
• 5-15: Two doses (basic vaccine) recommended.  At least three doses recommended for those with “severely weakened immune system.”
• 16+: Two dose (basic vaccine) recommended.
• 75+ and people living in nursing homes or care homes: Spring booster was recommended
• 12+ with weakened immune system: Spring booster was recommended
• Fall booster recommendations pending?

Australia

• Ages 6 months to 4 years: Vaccine recommended if severely immunocompromised or with complex/multiple health conditions
• Ages 5 years to 11: Two dose (basic vaccine) recommended.  No booster.
  • “Booster doses are not currently recommended for anyone aged under 12 years. Severe COVID-19 in children is uncommon and the primary course of COVID-19 vaccines generates a strong immune response. The benefit from additional doses of vaccine is likely to be small. Current evidence does not suggest that booster doses are needed at this time.”
• Ages 12 – 15: Two dose (basic vaccine) recommended.  Booster recommended if severely immunocompromised or complex/multiple health conditions.
• Ages 16-49: Two dose (basic vaccine) plus booster recommended.  Second booster recommended if severely immunocompromised or complex/multiple health conditions.
• Ages 30-49: Second booster may be offered but but “benefits for people in this age group are less certain”
• Ages 50+: Two dose (basic vaccine) plus two boosters recommended.

New Zealand

• Under age 5: Vaccine not recommended
• Ages 5 -15: Two vaccine doses recommended.  Boosters not recommended.
• Ages 16 – 17: Two vaccines + booster recommended.  Wait 6 months before booster.
• Ages 18+: Two vaccines + booster recommended.  Wait at least 3 months before booster.
• 50+: May receive a second booster.
• 65+ and others at high risk of severe illness: Second booster recommended.
• Wait 3 months after getting Covid to get another vaccine.

Canada

• 6 months – 4 years: A vaccine “may” be offered.
  • Strong recommendation that the vaccine NOT be given on the same day as any other vaccine.
• 5 – 11: Two doses (basic vaccine) recommended.  At least three doses for children “moderately to severely immunocompromised”
• 12 – 17: Two doses (basic vaccine) recommended.  At least three doses for children “moderately to severely immunocompromised”  Booster recommended for those at high risk from Covid.
• 18 and older: Two doses (basic vaccine recommended.  Booster recommended.
• 70+: Second (spring) booster should be considered
• 80+ and nursing home / long-term care: Second (spring) booster strongly recommended
• Ages 65+: Fall booster “should” be offered
• Ages 12-64: Fall booster “may” be offered to all.  Strongly recommended for those at high risk of severe illness.
• Ages 12-17: At least one booster strongly recommended.  (ie if the teen hasn’t had a booster before, the fall booster is strongly recommended)
• Ages 5 – 11: A booster “may” be offered to healthy children.  A booster “should” be offered to children at high risk of severe illness.
• Boosters should be given six months after previous booster or Covid infection

(I thought the CDC was bad, but Canada takes the cake for confusing recommendations.)

Inspired by our month-long trip living out of a single suitcase, I’m going to try and buy nothing during the month of September.  I do the majority of the buying for myself and the kids and a lot of the buying for Jonathan.  Our nanny might buy something; this isn’t totally rigid.  But in addition to having less stuff in Virginia, I also didn’t order much from Amazon or any other company because I wasn’t sure it would be delivered to the rental house.  I did buy a replacement GPS watch after mine died, which, financially speaking, canceled out any effects of not doing other shopping.  Still, it was good not to bring so much stuff into our lives.

Furthermore, I was inspired by my parents.  My Mom has been doing buy-nothing way longer than it’s been a trend.  Her motto throughout my entire life has really been “buy nothing.”  (It dovetails nicely with my parents’ overall frugality.)  In any case, during our visit, I noticed she still had the same beach towels she had when we were kids.  And the same cooler.  And a bunch of other necessities she’d brought I recognized and realized she’d had at least 30 years.

My parents’ computer broke down a few weeks ago.  Most people would probably buy another one if they could afford it, which my parents can.  My parents, who are not as capable with computers as they used to be, nonetheless opened it up and fiddled with this and that until they got it working again.

Anyway, I think I can manage a month.  We’ll see how it goes.  I do want a new e-reader (since I lost my old one), but I can read on my phone until at least October.  I’ve been so tired due to getting up to run before work I haven’t been reading much anyway.

(Obviously buy nothing does not include food, medication, or other basic necessities.  Though I’m pretty sure the my Mom had also had the cough drop she offered me one day in VA for a decade or two.)