Covid-19 is not done with us. Cases are rising across the Northeast. New variants erode protections, are more contagious than others. Delta. Omicron. BA.2. // This is not a repeat of recent surges. Does not appear to resemble what we have seen before. But we won’t know. Cannot know until we are overwhelmed. // Covid has proven a tenacious virus. Has shown how ill-equipped we are when faced with epidemics. With pandemics. How much our economic thinking, our willingness to toss off any notion of public good, of the commonweal, in exchange for profit, for a few dollars, leaves us vulnerable. How much we value our convenience, how distorted our sense of rights has become, that we view masks and vaccines as violations. // We’ve been careful. Mostly. But as the worst of the pandemic seemed to pass, we’ve grown more lax. No longer mask-up everywhere. We’re both vaccinated. Boosted. The CDC says masks can be optional for the vaccinated, which means masks are being discarded. Probably faster than we should. // I know we have caved. To exhaustion. To peer pressure. And now we have Covid. A positive test with mild symptoms. // A matter of time? Of the odds? Of carelessness? Of a change in prevention? Questions asked. No answers. Or, maybe, the answer is yes to all. Almost one in four Americans has now had Covid. As the virus surges and wanes and surges again. As new variants spread. Delta, Omicron, its subvariants. We showed symptoms Tuesday. Tested positive Wednesday. Our at-home tests showing a pink line. // One in four Americans have had Covid. Nearly a million have died over two years. These likely are undercounts, say the experts (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/14/health/covid-cases-tracking.html). Because of home testing. Overlapping symptoms. Politics. We are turning more and more to at-home tests, a necessary tool to stem spread, but one that creates “blind spots” in tracking. // I don’t know where we picked up the virus. A trip to Florida. The supermarket. A home-furnishing store. Maybe I contracted it from a student. I’ve traced it in my mind, but can’t be sure. Don’t know of others I’ve been in contact with who’ve tested positive. // I have sinus issues. Fatigue. No fever. No chest issues. Alternate between sweating and chills. Doctor says treat the symptoms. Unless my temperature spikes. Unless I have trouble breathing. For most, the virus will hit like the flu. But there are still dangers. A threat of long Covid and the tenacious hold it has on some, compromising their breathing, their stamina. We’ve lost nearly a million Americans to the virus in two years, the death toll unfolding in a steady upward climb. // But the government is stuck. Unable to respond. Frozen by Republican intransigence and the efforts of a single, conservative Democrat. We are done with aid. Done with efforts to address the spread, to stem it and help those who are sick. To help the international community in its efforts. // We need to manage spread so we can manage variants. Need get people vaccinated everywhere. Need to make Covid meds available to all. To cut through our broken health system, to make care and prevention more important than profit. To allow spread outside our borders is to invite new mutations. To allow people to continue getting sick is to betray our own humanity. //
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