Cavalier about COVID

How many times have we all heard something to the effect of ‘if I get COVID, I get it’ or ‘its no worse than if I get the flu’ or……..?

Those sentiments don’t work for me, because it is not about you! 

This is not a self-limiting disease.  If you get COVID, you may or may not survive, but you can pass it on to people you care about or people caring for you. They are the COVID innocent bystanders.  I assume most of them don’t have the same cavalier attitude you do about getting sick and potentially dying or infecting their loved ones.  And they may not enjoy the same access to high quality health care either. I seriously doubt the families of the over 211,000 Americans who have died from COVID 19 so far are cavalier about this deadly disease.  All of them are grieving and probably didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones properly.

Mask wearing and other measures have finally given us some semblance of freedom to engage in our normal activities and to safely reopen our economy.   I am concerned about the upcoming elections and ‘pandemic fatigue’ and that we will also become cavalier about wearing facial coverings, physical distancing, and hand washing.  It is important to remember that these measures are a two-way street.  They protect me and they protect you. 

I posted about my recent trip to Hood River in OR.  We crossed the Columbia to WA and then back to OR.  Both states are led by governor’s who aren’t cavalier about COVID.  The rules are pretty much the same in both states and the consistent safety measures we observed were welcome and gave us some freedom to travel.

On a related note, the flu is nothing to be cavalier about either.  During the last flu season, as many as 62,000 died from the flu and it’s complications. But unlike COVID, there is a vaccine.  So get it!

Keep up all the COVID prevention measures, get your flu shot if you haven’t done so already, and have a good weekend.

See you on Monday,

Allene

COVID 19 in King County over the past two weeks (as of 10/7/20)

• Positive tests – 1791; 2.3% of tests (up .3% from last week’s post)
• Hospitalizations – 59 (up 19 from last week)
• Deaths – 15 (up 11 from last week)

There is an ongoing COVID 19 outbreak on Greek Row near the U.W, with over 200 infections in 15 fraternities and sororities.  It is tough to get college kids to play ball with masks and physical distancing, and to limit gatherings. I also heard from a nurse at a local hospital that they are already pretty full with a variety of patients.  It could quickly become a hospital capacity issue if COVID cases needing hospitalization continue to increase.

Advertisement