TWO YEARS AGO TODAY - PATIENT ZERO

Two years ago today, the first "official" Covid case in the U.S. was diagnosed at a hospital 2.5 miles from my house.  What a journey we've all been on since then!

I can't even begin to recount, nor do I want to, the sad, scary, frustrating, hopeful, dismaying, lonely, grateful turns our lives have taken in this historic time.  I desperately wish this wasn't a thing I have to deal with in my latter years. Nor do I wish it upon my grandchildren in their most innocent years, nor anyone in between, really.  But here we are.

I'm most distressed about how slow our national leaders under the previous administration were to do anything substantive to help the people of our country -- wasting time on ridiculous denials, snake oil treatments, lack of testing capability, and anti-science, anti-scientist denigration of facts and expertise. 

I'm equally distressed that we have a ongoing battle between those who are taking responsible action by wearing masks and getting vaccinated and those who continue to yell "hoax" and deny that masking or vaccines work.  The spread of this virus and its emerging variants is the result, endangering us all.

And we are not just endangered by Covid and the most recent Omicron variant...the hospitals are full to capacity and unable to perform other procedures and surgeries.  I have friends who spent long untended hours lying on gurnies in short-staffed ER's only to be treated for their ailments as best they could and sent home when perhaps hospitalization would have been more beneficial.  I have a friend who, with a cancer diagnosis, had her surgery pushed back for months; another whose much-needed heart procedure has been postponed indefinitely.

By now I'm sure everyone knows someone who has contracted this virus, has been gravely ill, or even died, or has barely noticed it -- feeling little more than cold symptoms.  It's a treacherous bug, seemingly hitting randomly at times, but since vaccinations have been available the unvaccinated are at far, far greater risk.

Even with vaccinations, I know several friends and friends of friends who have recently contracted it.  Pre-vaccination, my son had it in early days of of the outbreak in 2020; post-vaccination and with a booster his wife got it just this past holiday season; last week my husband was exposed by a friend with whom he shared an apartment on a week-long snowboarding trip.

Yes. In spite of our extreme measures of "being careful" all this time, the virus got really close to Hub and me.  His friend tested positive the day before the end of their week together.  Hub called me with the startling news and we immediately went into troubleshooting mode. He would test the next day before he left and regardless of result would live for the next five days in his camper in the driveway, protecting me from possible exposure. 

His test was negative as he left to come home; he still moved into the camper.  We stayed apart, texting, talking on the phone, and masking to meet on our upstairs open air porch, sitting 10 feet apart, propane heater going, for an hour each evening. Yesterday was Day 5 of the recommended quarantine period and he was negative again so we've been reunited.  It's strange that this most contagious of variants hit one guy and spared another.  But there ya have the head-scratching nature of how this has been going from the beginning.  

They say Covid may always be with us now, peaking with new variants at times and ebbing at others.  We will get "comfortable" with learning to take precautions in greater or lesser stringent degree as the virus runs through its cycles.  We may need more frequent "booster" vaccinations and we may still contract it, even if we are vaccinated, but we will likely avoid the ICU and death.  And that's an improvement over the first year of this scourge.

President Biden just announced at-home test kits and free masks will be provided to all U.S. citizens.  That will help for those who bother to use them.  Masking is still the easiest way to help avoid this thing, but the controversy over it still rages.  The Supreme Court just ruled that OSHA cannot mandate masks in workplaces with over 100 employees because the Covid is not a workplace hazard, per se.  Really?  There's the Conservative Court at work, NOT protecting us.

I'm grateful for staying healthy, for Hub not contracting it, for my family members who did get it recovering fully with few debilitating days.  I'm grateful that every member of my family is 100% onboard with vaccinating themselves and the kids.  I would be heartbroken to have to deal with someone close to me feeling just fine about endangering themselves and others. 

I don't know when we will be 'back to normal', as if anyone really knows now what 'normal' means.  I know that having lived during this time, I take nothing for granted; I count on nothing; I am ready to change plans at a moment's notice; I steel myself for bad news; I rejoice in simple and previously taken-for-granted activities and opportunities.  

I'll continue to wage the "risk assessment" wars, sometimes deciding to sequester and sometimes deciding to venture into the public fray.  And I'll never, ever, ever again not value the life I've been given, the love I've been able to give and receive, the absolute gift of health and vitality.

At least, that's the view from here...©

Photo Credits:  All over the internet... 😥

To date cases of Covid 19 in U.S.: 70.1 million; Deaths: 864,000.  Worldwide cases: 346 million; Deaths: 5.59 million (and these stats are most likely way under-reported).