Run But You Can’t Hide

It snuck in last week, but it had been lurcking for almost three years. My wife Maureen started sneezing. She thought it was allergies. A slight sore throat would come and go. But she was falling asleep watching TV by nine o’clock and sleeping later in the morning. No other symptoms. Then last Friday, I started feeling slight chills and a monster headache started to build Friday night. I fought with the monster all night. No sleep. Saturday morning we decided I needed to take a test. The dreaded two lines popped up on the test strip also immediately. COVID finally got me after almost three years. I was now a statistic. Maureen, the nurse, suggested we go to an Urgent Care to get a confirming test and the medication Paxlovid, which if taken in the first few days, can greatly reduce symptoms.

Maureen called the Urgent Care to tell them we were coming. They don’t want you walking into their waiting room knowing you have COVID. She went in to get the paperwork I had to fill out while waiting in the car which makes you feel like even more of a social outcast. Then we had to wait in the car for them to call us to come to the side door to be seen. We sat for an a hour as we watched other patients come and go. Finally, we got the call. We had to slip past the main entrance to the side door where a young woman quickly waved us inside. There was a seat right inside the door. The area seemed to be just for staff. The woman quickly administered another test. I did feel badly for her. What a terrible way to spend your day. But we owe the people who do this work our eternal gratitude. Of course, I was positive. She went to get the doctor. He said to quarantine for five days and ordered a prescription for Paxlovid.

Back home, I texted my three golf buddies and the woman who cuts my hair to let them know I was positive. I had been with them in the 48 hours before I tested positive. With a low grade fever and the chills, I put on several layers of clothing and tried to sleep. The fatigue lasted for several days. I just wanted to take a nap all the time. I woke to Maureen sitting next to the bed saying she took a test and was also positive. Luckily, her symptoms were mild. But as we looked back on the previous days, we surmised that her sneezing and sleepiness may have been the initial sign COVID had gotten us. This brought me some relief because I thought I was the culprit. Fortunately, a long scheduled Florida vacation wasn’t planned until next week. Quarantining for five days can be tense and boring. After what we all went through in 2020 and 21, we felt like  hostages again. Maureen tested negative yesterday. I still tested positive today. Now what? Do we go back to our separate corners?

We are three years into the COVID era. It has killed millions and caused immense suffering for victims and their families. Vaccines and medication have made it less fatal and reduced severe cases. This current variant XBB.1.5 is considered very transmissible Statistics show it’s 28% of new cases in the United States and over 70% of the cases in the northeast. Cases are doubling every week. It has changed the world. It ravaged our health care system and traumatized nurses, doctors and first responders some who will never get over what they saw. It changed our economy, the way we work, they way we interact with people, it divided us even more politically. The virus and how to fight it overwhelmed us with false information and fear.

We are in a better place than the hell we all lived through. But it is not going away. It is here to stay. Many medical experts predict we will need annual vaccines just like we get for the flu. The virus is constantly changing. We have to be vigilant. As we have seen, we can run but we can’t hide.