Days of Covid-19. Help Me Out, People

Life in the face of Covid-19.

Well, to be more specific: life of a high risk person in the face of Covid-19. My poor body has fought against autoimmune issues since April 6, 2001. One day I was healthy, the next I wasn’t. I’ve been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, Lyme disease, and now doctors think I might actually have Lupus (the hits just keep on coming). My last two tests for Lupus markers were positive, so off I go to a teaching hospital in Augusta, GA soon. My rib cage and sternum feel like I have a small elephant named Louie sleeping on my chest all the time. Louie is not cute. He's a demonic, lazy ass elephant with razor sharp teeth and no sense of humor. 

             

In 2005 I tested positive for TB exposure and went on year long treatments through my local health department. Also that year I was hospitalized for cytomeglovirus, which normally doesn’t make people noticeably ill, but it took me out of commission for three weeks.  In 2013 I was bitten by a tick and came down with a nasty case of Lyme that went undiagnosed for way too long. In the past three years I have battled sinus issues that have not been resolved through surgery and I’ve had surgery for Freiberg’s disease on my right foot. The foot surgery didn’t work out and I sometimes limp like a drunk wounded pirate on a rolling ship, so it looks like I’m headed down the foot surgery road again shortly.

Growing up I easily had three bouts of strep throat almost every single year and was hospitalized for a severe case of double pneumonia when I was fifteen (I missed Black Sabbath over that- something I will never forgive my body for).  I’m not giving you my medical history so you can gloat over what I hope is your own fantastic, wondrous, untarnished health (oh, go ahead- gloat away. I'll wait), but to show that there are reasons that people like me are just a tab bit more concerned about being exposed to Covid-19 than maybe you are. I’m 58 years old and I’m high risk. I don’t relish the idea of getting Covid-19 because I know it won’t go easy on me. A virus like that would spiral into my body and my lungs and proceed to knock the last vestiges of my fragile immune system out of the ballpark. 

 So, if you staying home for a few weeks is going to help people like me, and there are A LOT of people like me, then damn it, stay the hell home. Listen to the medical experts. Do it for your next door neighbor who has heart issues. Do it for your cousin who is taking chemo for cancer. Do it for your child's teacher who has M.S. Do it for the choir director at your church who has rheumatoid arthritis. Do it for the cashier at Walmart who has the beginning stages of COPD. Do it for your best friend who has Type 1 diabetes.

The libs aren’t trying to destroy your churches by asking you not to go to services for a few weeks. Yes, I’ve heard this is part of Satan’s plan, but I assure that Satan has nothing to do with this (he told me he didn't). The libs aren’t trying to dismantle this country by using the virus to do our evil handwork. We aren’t trying to politicize it against a totally incompetent president who didn’t take appropriate measures back in January when he had the opportunity (You know I had to go there, right? I’m pissed). The virus will not discriminate based on social standing, race, religion, or if you prefer Coke over Pepsi. Covid-19 isn’t going to ask your political affiliation before it latches onto you or your grandmother or your beloved uncle who keeps peppermints in his pockets just for the neighborhood kids.

Social distancing, which is what the CDC is asking people to do, is just plain common sense, just like washing your hands is. Social distancing is an effort to try and slow down the spread of the virus. There is no vaccine. There is no treatment. When cities across the nation are closing down bars and restaurants, when Disney takes off the mouse ears, when schools are shuttered, when Canada has bolted its border to the United States, when the stock market is in free fall, when stores like Nike have either cut their hours or locked their doors completely, when the world famous Metropolitan Museum of Art pulls in the welcome mat, when we have absolutely no idea how many people in the U.S might have Covid-19 because there aren’t enough test kits and people are contagious before they even show symptoms, then the situation just might be more than “hyped up” and “fake news.”  

On Monday the number of people in Georgia who were affected by Covid-19 was about 20. A week later that number is over 100. That number is going to keep climbing.

           

Stay home, people. Don’t go to bars. Don’t go on nonessential plane trips. Don’t go to family reunions. Don’t take your kids for play dates. Don’t go visit Aunt Thelma in the nursing home. Don’t go to church. Don’t go spend the day at the local Barnes & Nobles. Don’t go the E.R for your hurt pinkie. These measures are all temporary, but if you decide to ignore the CDC warnings about social distancing, then you just might make it permanent for someone like me or for someone that you dearly love. And I’d really like to hang around for a few more years, and I’m sure your loved ones would too.

P.S Wash your damn hands. 

(map: New York Times)