COVID-19 Experience

 

COVID-19 Experience

 

There was an article I saw recently about a pastor who didn’t believe that COVID was real because he didn’t know anybody who had it, then both his parents died of it. The surprising thing was that he didn’t express any remorse for any misinformation that he might have communicated while he was a non-believer.

As a scientist, I was a believer from the beginning and did a writeup for Facebook that shared with friends the science behind the expression ‘flatten the curve.’ What was truly scary was that it was clear to me, from a back of the envelope calculation using the early numbers out of China and Europe, that a lot of people were going to die.

Lenora and I operated at what we called the 90th percentile level of precaution as in we were more cautious than 9 out of 10 people. Our standard for the 10^th person was our daughter who took every precaution. We went into lock-down. We had our groceries delivered then either cleaned them or quarantined them in the garage. I ordered literally a gallon of hand sanitizer from Amazon (if you need a refill, swing by!) We cancelled trips then sat on the phone with customer service for hours negotiating refunds. Dates for ticketed events came and went, dates for events got moved out a couple months then into next year then cancelled.  When it became available, we installed the contact tracing app on our phones.

As a Worship Associate, I shared a reflection with my congregation (virtually, of course) titled ‘Names, not Numbers’ as news came in of people we knew who died of COVID.  The closest was our dear friend, Martha Galatola, who died early in the pandemic in a New Jersey nursing home with her family unable to be by her side. I wish the pastor I mentioned above had heard me as the message I wanted to convey was that each person who died was dear to someone, each death was one too many.

COVID eventually came into our family as three generations of Lenora’s Ohio family all contracted the coronavirus in the wake of Thanksgiving gatherings. Fortunately, none had symptoms requiring hospitalization and all are recovered now, but their experience underscores that the danger is real, both before and after someone you know has the disease.

Like most states, the lockdown in North Carolina has proceeded in phases. Unlike most states, North Carolina has a smart governor and an even smarter health secretary, Dr. Mandy Cohen, whom the governor listened to.  Between the two, fact-based, risk-aware decisions were made and communicated. That said, we have not regressed in phases as much as we should based on the facts that the numbers are running higher now in Phase 3 than they were in Phases 1 and 2.

We live in an Over-55 community and the demographics are such that virtually every resident of our community falls into the high-risk category for the probability of bad outcomes were they to contract the coronavirus.  As such, for the most part, compliance with guidelines was, and remains, high. Masks are worn, contact is avoided, social distancing is practiced, etc. But there is an Achilles Heel to this situation as most of the residents are here to be near their grandkids and many expanded their bubbles to include continuing to see the grandkids, either here or at their kids houses. Despite that, there seem to be fewer cases in our community than North Carolina statistics would predict, though sadly, slightly higher than the predicted number of deaths.

We both will take the vaccine as soon as it is available.  We will likely be clumped with seniors between 65 and 70 whenever that demographic comes up to the top of the priority list, certainly after front line medical workers and emergency service workers and politicians. We will continue to mask up, even after vaccination, until Dr. Fauci says it is safe not to. The experience of Australia and New Zealand show that it is possible to eradicate the virus, but it takes all of us working together.