You've probably heard the sad expression by now: It's become a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

For the vaccinated in this country, that makes our current reality both sad and confusing. If you're vaccinated, how often should you be wearing a mask? Is indoor dining safe? What about large crowds? And the underlying and increasingly common question: Am I going somewhere where vaccines will be required?

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that "mandates at the local level need to be done" as far as mask and vaccine requirements go. New York City has already announced that customers will be required to show proof of vaccination dine indoors. In Boston, in lieu of any current widespread mandates, Boston restaurateurs have been left to create their own rules. Belmont has enacted its own indoor mask mandate, and Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll wants to apply the same policy.

With just weeks before school is set to begin in the region, the question of vaccine mandates in schools is also top of mind. Also on "Meet the Press" Sunday, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said she would support a vaccine mandate for educators in school buildings. Boston Teachers President Jessica Tang told me today that she, too, would support the requirement. Experts say that unvaccinated children under 12 would, in fact, be safer if the adults around them were vaccinated.

And if the thought of a vaccine mandate worries you, my colleague Sahar Fatima is here to remind us: There are already many places in our everyday lives that require proof of certain vaccinations.