We are a little past a year since most of us found out how real the Covid-19 plague actually was. Even though many of us had been through epidemics of this sort, this one is particularly nasty because it could be transmitted by people who didn’t even know they were carriers. As a result, we all have to be leery of pretty much everyone we encountered.
The community where I live, which is a small city about 70 miles from Toronto, has a population that skews to older people, and what we found was very little resistance to doing all the things that would keep us all safe and protected.
Hardly anybody played politics with this disease, mainly because a lot of us understood just how vulnerable we would be if we started to get cute about things. And so we muddled along, being very careful to social distance wash out hands and wear our masks out in public. We also loaded up on vitamin D when he heard that it was helpful in lessening the symptoms if you should get it.
Having resolved to do all that, we were pretty confident that we could weather this storm, and so far so good.
Now the vaccines are becoming available and while it really is an organizational mess, it’s still moving forward, and hopefully, by the end of this year, things will be back to whatever passes for normal.
People have had to sacrifice a lot these days. Many have lost their jobs and are scrambling like crazy to make ends meet. But at the end of the day, the hardships that we would endure if we caught this virus would be much greater than we can imagine.
The personal care workers who come and help me a couple of times a week are overjoyed that they have been vaccinated. But they keep telling everyone that it’s not going to be safe until everyone is vaccinated, and that’s a good mantra to be chanting.
As a society, we will define a new normal and have to live with it. And so far, it feels like a good thing.
I can see that, at least in my little corner of the world, that people are much more polite and considerate, and not just about keeping their distance. In our supermarket, a lot of people thank the cashiers and floor staff for their efforts. The lawn on the hospital where I did my rehab for two months was always filled with thank you signs from the families of patients who were grateful for the effort that all the health care workers put forth every day.
I know it’s not the same way everywhere. I know that there are anti-vaccination movements and anti-mask protests all over the world. But I do believe that the power of actually knowing that you are protected will win out in the end, and these movements will eventually go away once everyone is vaccinated.
And as much as I would like to say that we are on the home stretch, I have to keep reminding everyone within my sphere of influence that, in the famous words of New York Yankees great, Yogi Berra… “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Sadly you still have a very large contingent of people who refuse to get vaccinated. We have a slightly smaller bunch of those fools. Hopefully this does not make it hard fro the rest to get back to whatever this new normal will be.
Jim, my wife and I ran an errand for an elderly neighbor last night. She needed a prescription picked up. It was cold and late, and she has bad eyesight. Inside the Walgreens, people were lined up in front of the pharmacist’s counter in a half-dozen staggered lines waiting quietly but on edge for their vaccine shots. They all had that end-of-a-NYC-day look. Haggard. Gray. Cut in line at your own risk.
As we walked home, we looked in the windows of a number of restaurants at the diners – a surprisingly large number – (finally) enjoying a meal out.
The two pictures could not have been more juxtaposed. Life bifurcated.
To your point, it will be over when it’s over. I wonder and worry about the toll….