Who’s sick and tired of talking about COVID? All of us. But actually, getting COVID myself and then listening to people’ s fears and comments have led me to write this post.
People talk about the pandemic as though it is over. Well, it’s not. I sang in a 90-person chorus concert a week ago. We had all tested negative on Friday morning. We sang Friday night without masks. Saturday morning one of us tested positive and stayed home. The rest of us sang Saturday evening. I wore a surgical mask, but most didn’t. Then we sang our last concert on Sunday afternoon, maskless except for two singers.
Fast forward one week. Over half the chorus has COVID. Many of us are senior citizens. Some of the younger chorus people avoided it. Some singers in the front row also avoided it somehow.
There were five rows of us on the risers. The woman who got it first was in the back row. I was in the third row and near her.
Now for the rumors.
1. “COVID is over.” No, it’s not.
2. “You can’t get it more than once.” Yes, you can. One of my offspring has had the Delta variant and then got the Omicron variant. Now there’s an Omicron subvariant as the virus continues to mutate.
3. “COVID isn’t that bad.” As a quadruple-vaxed person, let me say that it is bad the first two days, then less so for two more days, then just annoying after that. The worst part is having to stay away from everyone for ten days.
4. “Family members can keep giving it back and forth to each other.” That’s not how it works, not the same variant, anyway. Different ones, yes.
5. “Everyone has the same experience.” No, they don’t.
6. “Paxlovid will speed up recovery.” It won’t if you can’t swallow the six big daily pills.
7. “You really need somebody with you when you are sick with COVID.” It would be nice, but two of my relatives did it on their own.
8. “Masks are worthless.” No, they’re not. N-95 masks are the best. A surgical mask is next best. A cloth mask is third. A bandanna is pretty worthless. Any mask tells others that you want some space between you and them.
9. “COVID is just like the flu.” I would say that yes, if you are fully vaccinated, your experience is like having a bad flu. I was certainly disabled for two full days. All bets are off if you are not vaccinated.
10. “Don’t worry and go out there and build up your immunity.” Hmmmm. I’d say to be cautious, get vaccinated, and avoid huge crowds.
It’s funny. The same chorus sang three concerts this past December, tested beforehand and sang without masks. Nobody got COVID. Those holiday performances were right before the Omicron surge swept the country.
We didn’t know how lucky we were back then.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 