So back in February (can I even remember that far back?) I questioned whether “it” was over. Maybe there will be a day (not today) where someone will read these words and wonder what the heck I am talking about. What IS “it?” Today, I think (I hope), we all know what “it” is. We have been living with “it” for over two years. We’ve been struggling with “it” for over two years. adly, we’ve been fighting about and over “it.” “It” is still here.
“It,” aka COVID-19 has not gone gently into the night as some (dare I say uneducated) predicted two years ago. “It” still very much exists. “It” has taken us on a roller coaster ride. Infections went up, up, up. Deaths went up, up, up. Then there was the blessing of vaccination. Here in the United States, we had the blessing of being able to chose from three different brands. (I come from a diverse family. In my home, the three of us each have a different one.) As more and more people got vaccinated, the numbers went down. But “it” didn’t go away. “It” was a sneaky bastard, evolving and mutating. Numbers went back up. My family had a COVID Christmas; despite being vaccinated, we got complacent and the virus took advantage of that. Thankfully (and definitely due to vaccination), we were not hit hard. We were sick, but not horribly sick.
After the holiday surge, the numbers went back down. The masks came off. We were feeling pretty confident. Maybe we were even feeling a little cocky. After all it had been two years, we are had beaten it back into submission, right?
Then why having I been hearing more and more about a new sub-variant? (Or is it a sub-sub-variant? Does it really matter?) People I knew were getting sick. Not hospital sick (thank goodness), but seemingly experiencing more symptoms than my family had back in December. Co-workers are out sick; friends are getting tested even as my local testing/vaccination center has closed it’s doors.
As I said before COVID-19 is a tricky bastard. No matter how “superior” we may think we are, it’s going to continue to put up a fight. I’ve seen more and more people wearing masks again; a move that I respect. It’s a move I may make again myself and if it becomes a requirement, my basket of masks still sits in my front hall, ready to use. I still keep one in my purse (and used it when I traveled via bus to Newark). I still keep some in the center console of my car. I don’t envision them ever going away.
The news recently marked the millionth death from COVID-19 in the United States. (Although the latest data I found online, which was from two days ago, but the toll at 997,000.) One million people in the United States have died since early 2020. Thats 1,000,000 lives lost. Is there anyone out there who does NOT know someone who has died of COVID-19? It seems to me that we all MUST know someone who has lost their life as the result of this virus.
So it’s not over. We may be over it. We may be tired of it. (To be honest, there is no maybe about it. We ARE tired of it.) But it IS still here. It’s not going away. We need to resolve to live with it. To wear masks when they are necessary. To get vaccinated. (And this may be an annual thing. A pain, but one that NEEDS to be done.) As we surpass the million death mark, we need to keep moving forward with compassion and care, so that I don’t need to write another post about the next quarter, half or even million people who could lose their lives.
