Presenting a non-political argument in favor of Covid vaccines. See

By GARY NAGER Editorial

Before I get into my own whys and wherefores, I just want to say that even though I disagree with those who refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19, I still defend your right not to take the “jab.” While I’m not over age 65, I am in my 60s, still somewhat overweight and I’m on daily medicine to control my blood pressure, so as soon as I became eligible to receive the vaccine, I took my chances and got my two doses of the Moderna vaccine in February and March of 2021. Eight months later (in November of 2021), I got the Moderna booster and will plan to continue to get boosted whenever the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) says I should or that it’s OK for me to do so.

Why? The primary reason I chose to do so, and why Jannah did as well (also having received her two original Moderna doses and her booster a little less than a month after I did), is because we love to go out to eat, to have a few drinks, go to sing karaoke, see concerts and attend Lightning and Bucs games and we believed that being vaccinated was a safer way for us to continue to do those things than choosing not to. While we wore our masks whenever we went shopping or to local Chamber, Rotary and other public meetings, we certainly didn’t wear them when we went out to eat or to watch the Bolts at Amalie Arena.

To those who say we’re crazy, that we don’t know what’s really in those shots or how they will affect us long term, for us — as older adults (although Jannah’s almost eight years younger than me) who aren’t concerned about how the vaccinations will affect our reproductive systems — the choice was easy for us and now, we’re both even happier that we made the decision we did.

After still basically doing all the things we love and never having tested positive for Covid in the nearly two years since the pandemic first hit (despite taking multiple rapid and PCR tests during that time)*, I first got a mild cough in mid-January, and I thought it might even just be a cold or allergies because I never ran a fever and never had body aches or major fatigue. And, although my cough did get a little worse, I still didn’t think I had Covid until my son called me a couple of days into my symptoms (and a week after we had all celebrated mine and my mom’s birthdays together) to say he had tested positive and that he was having a major sore throat issue.

The sore throat — which we heard was a major indicator that we had caught the Omicron variant — finally kicked in for me the following day and got so bad over the next two days that no matter how much hot tea with honey, zinc, vitamin C, Airborne, cough drops and other over-the-counter medications I took, it got so bad I couldn’t sleep for two nights. I actually went and had myself swabbed for strep at a local Urgent Care center, just to make sure I didn’t have two illnesses happening at the same time. But, I tested negative for strep and was told to increase my Ibuprofen doses and within a day or so after, the sore throat started to subside and while I was still coughing up phlegm, it no longer hurt to do so. Two days after that, I again tested negative for Covid.

Meanwhile, Jannah tested negative when I first tested positive but began experiencing entirely different symptoms than I had on the third or fourth day after my positive test. She started with a low-grade fever and body aches, which progressed into a minor cough with a minor sore throat a couple of days later, but all of her symptoms went away within a few days and, almost exactly a week after her positive test, she also tested negative for Covid.

Now, people tell me that Omicron, while apparently more contagious than previous variants, generally had less severe symptoms than Delta and other earlier forms of the disease, even for the unvaccinated. Even so, I could only imagine how much worse my symptoms could have gotten and that the possibility of being hospitalized, at least for me, seemed all too frighteningly real.

So, while I fully expect to receive the usual string of nasty emails and requests not to deliver the paper to those who are anti-vax and anti-mask, I still felt that I wanted to share my Covid story — not necessarily to change anyone’s mind, but just to say that knowing that people in my age, weight and general health categories are still dying from even the Omicron variant, I’m still glad that I weighed my options and felt that “taking the jabs” was less risky than just allowing my immune system to fight off this scourge.

And, considering that I’m getting ready to have both of my knees replaced over the next few months, I’m glad that, at least for now, I can worry a little less about Covid and more about my post-surgical recovery.

New Tampa Neighborhood News

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Publisher & Editor /Ad Sales Gary Nager Managing Editor / Photographer John C. Cotey Correspondents Celeste McLaughlin Lead Video Producer/Multimedia Specialist Charmaine George

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Nothing that appears in New Tampa Neighborhood News may be reproduced, whether wholly or in part, without permission. Opinions expressed by New Tampa Neighborhood News writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the publisher’s opinion. The deadline for outside editorial submissions and advertisement reservations for Volume 30, Issue 5, of New Tampa Neighborhood News is Friday, February 25, 2022. New Tampa Neighborhood News will consider previously non-published outside editorial submissions if they are double spaced, typed and less than 500 words. New Tampa Neighborhood News reserves the right to edit and/or reject all outside editorial submissions and makes no guarantees regarding publication dates. New Tampa Neighborhood News will not return unsolicited editorial materials. New Tampa Neighborhood News reserves the right to edit &/or reject any advertising. New Tampa Neighborhood News is not responsible for errors in advertising beyond the actual cost of the advertising space itself, nor for the validity of any claims made by its advertisers.

By JOHN C. COTEY

john@NTNeighborhoodNews.com

Wesley Chapel and New Tampa have been on a great run of fun and interesting projects, and 2022 should be no different. Here are the five we’re most looking forward to this year. 1. KRATE Container Park

The long-awaited KRATE container park at The Grove at Wesley Chapel is expected to be fully open by summer 2022 — which is great news for local residents in the quickly expanding S.R 54 corridor looking for more shopping and dining options.

There are so many cool things coming to Wesley Chapel this year, but KRATE ranks as No. 1, thanks to the unique nature of the project and the anticipation that has built up because it has taken much longer than many expected, due in no small part to a variety of Covidrelated issues.

KRATE was the jewel of developer Mark Gold’s plans when his company, Mishorim Gold Properties, bought The Grove — then a moribund 250-acre parcel anchored by a shopping center — for $64 million in September 2019. Gold has invested an additional $20 million in the KRATE, which he claims will be the largest container park in the U.S. and something that will draw visitors from around the state to Wesley Chapel.

The seven-acre KRATE project will feature 55 businesses in converted shipping containers, each with their own product-centric mural painted on the side by artist Whitney Holbourn of Colorado.

At our press time, only two stores — Provisions Coffee & Kitchen and

The New Tampa Performing Arts Center is coming along nicely and should be ready to open

later this year. (Photo: John C Cotey) Shake-A-Salad — were already open. Once the others are ready, the KRATE is expected to cash in on what is likely to be a welcome experience in these Covid-ridden times — walking an open-air market featuring restaurants, retail shops and even a stage that will host concerts and other performances. Its proximity to The Grove’s big box stores, and its popular restaurants like Treble Makers and the Falabella Family Bistro (see pg. 36), the Double Branch Artisanal Ales craft brewery, The Grove movie theater (and home of Side Splitters comedy club) and a new mini-golf course (see below) will make The Grove arguably the top entertainment destination hub in Pasco County, if not all of Tampa Bay. 2. New Tampa PAC

If we didn’t like shopping and desserts so much, this would be our No. 1.

Regardless, the New Tampa Performing Arts Center (NTPAC; photo, left) will provide a cultural boost to the area with its promise of music, dance and theatrical performances. The area already has an acting troupe, the New Tampa Players (NTP), that will call the PAC home and be one of what we hope are hundreds of groups to bring productions to the 350seat theater.

When was the last time you had to get dressed up to attend anything in New Tampa proper?

Our only gripe — it would have been nice to see the NTPAC fronting Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in all its glory, lit up at night as drivers-by gawked, as opposed to being tucked out of view between an apartment complex and a grocery store.

But, after a nearly 20-year battle to

get the place built, who’s complaining? 3. Lotte Market

This, very quietly, might be the coolest thing to open anywhere in 2022, because if you know, you know.

While we haven’t had any updates in a while on the plans for the new market, and no official announcement at all, we’re guessing Lotte Market will fill the 55,000-sq.ft. former Sweetbay Market with hard-to-find Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese food items, as well what is likely to be the largest selection of fresh — and, dare we say, unique — seafood, fruits and vegetables in the area.

The only other Lotte Market in Florida is located in Orlando, and that store, like most of its others located in Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia, have a handful of Asian restaurants or a food court. Lotte has already been approved by the city to put restaurants in the market, and we can’t wait to see which ones they will be.

4. Mini-Golf Squared

Remember a few years ago, when the major complaint about the area was that there was nothing to do? Well, since 2016, we’ve added an Urban Air Adventure Park in Tampa Palms, and in Wesley Chapel we now have the Advent Health Center Ice facility, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, an indoor recreation center and outdoor roller hockey rink at the Wesley Chapel District Park and the Main Event bowling alley and game center on S.R. 56.

As if that’s not enough, in 2022, Tiger Woods PopStroke Entertainment, a mini-golf and restaurant concept the golf superstar owns with entrepreneur Greg Bartoli, is coming to Wesley Chapel’s Cypress Creek Town Center on the north side of S.R. 56.

The project officially broke ground on Feb. 2 and should be ready by the beginning of summer, if not sooner.

Builders describe the place as an “experiential golf and casual dining concept merging a dynamic, technologically advanced competitive golf environment with food and beverages.”

Sign us up!

And while we’re at it, please also reserve us a spot at the new Grove MiniGolf, which is expected to open in March. While PopStroke skips all the bells and whistles associated with a traditional minigolf course, Grove Mini-Golf is leaning into them with plenty of holes requiring tricky shots — one hole you shoot over a river, another into a river (you’ll see), and there’s even a figure-8 hole and lots of hills and rocks to accentuate a rich, tropical oasis experience.

And, nighttime neon lighting and fire will give it a fun, festive feel. All of the holes will be illuminated with neon lights and glow-in-the-dark flags and balls. Very cool! 5. Diverging Diamond Interchange

If navigating castles, rocks and water on a mini-golf course doesn’t get you excited, how about navigating the soonto-be-completed (no, we’re not kidding) Diverging Diamond Interchange at the S.R. 56 and I-75 intersection?

We’re not sure if it will be easier figuring out the DDI or, say, shooting par, but the folks building it promise the new intersection is less confusing than it looks.

That would be great for those who want to venture out to that area but don’t because, well, ugh...that traffic. But, the DDI is supposed to eliminate all those conflict points and make for a safer interchange, using free flowing lanes — sometimes taking you to the other side of the road (relax, it’ll be fun!).

Just to be safe, though, we’d suggest hitting up YouTube to watch a few videos.

And...While these are our top 5, they aren’t the only cool things happening in our area in 2022, like the completion of the S.R. 54 widening project, Wesley Chapel’s second lagoon at Mirada — which, at 15 acres, is twice as large as the one in Epperson — new restaurants like The Living Room, and we might even see a few surprises. (We’re looking at you, empty Best Buy building on BBD).