Today, as I begin my second week with my second bout of COVID-19, I was reminded that four years ago today, the World Health Organization declared that Planet Earth was experiencing a pandemic, the first ever sparked by a coronavirus.
Four years later, we are still firmly in the grip of this coronavirus, and it’s unclear when — or if — we’ll ever be free.
Since this pandemic began, the United States has reported more than 103 million cases to the W.H.O. In Bexar County, there have been more than three-quarters of a million cases.
In the United states, more than one million people have died. More than seven million people have died, worldwide, of COVID-19.
I will not argue whether these millions died of COVID or with COVID, because without COVID, most of them would still be alive, even with their complicating conditions. That includes someone I loved. I’m sure that includes someone you loved, too.
It has been a rough four years.
Recently CDC offered new guidance that amounts to no guidance, in my opinion, and this is a problem as it becomes clear that repeated infections increase a person's risk of developing long COVID, and long COVID can be disabling.
If what you care about is the economy, David Cutler, a professor of applied economics at Harvard, has studied this situation and estimates that long COVID will cost the U.S. economy approaching $4 trillion.
If what you care about is the quality and length of human lives, that’s more difficult to estimate, but a life of recurrent infections that take a little more from you physically, cognitively, and emotionally each time … well, that doesn’t sound great.
But what do we do? The COVID virus doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, so be COVID smart. Dr, Katelyn Jetelina suggests you consider masking, but not always. Think about proximity and duration. Always wear a mask when on a plane or a bus, for example. You’ll be breathing other people’s air for a long time in both situations. A quick trip to the grocery store? Masks become less important.
Paxlovid and rapid antigen tests should be cheap or free and easily accessible — free tests, so you know when you are infected with COVID as soon as possible, and Paxlovid because it can not only reduce the severity of a COVID infection, but it can also make you less contagious and less likely to develop long COVID.
We also need to pressure those with the power to do something to clean our indoor air. Good ventilation in schools, for example, would have reduced the amount of sickness and death from this virus immeasurably.
How did I get COVID this second time? Proximity and duration. A person I share a home with took a plane trip without a mask, brought home COVID and gave it to me. When I learned they didn’t wear masks on their trip, I should have done so, immediately. Yes, in my own home.
Proximity and duration.
Four years in, COVID is still our companion. We forget that at our own risk. This virus over these years has changed us, for sure, but has it changed us into people who make choices that will protect ourselves and others?
So far, it seems that the answer is no. I hope that will change going forward.
