A story about Covid

Well, my friends. As you all know, I've been battling Covid for about three weeks now.

I was initially infected the weekend of Veterans' Day. By Wednesday of that week I thought I was feeling better. But that was a mere chimera. Even with Paxlovid, by that following weekend I had relapsed. The relapse was, somehow, worse than the initial illness. No, my fever wasn't as high. But my body felt like it was having a general collapse. From the Tuesday when I went to urgent care through the week and into this week, I felt awful every day, with a constant, low-grade fever, congestion, and utter fatigue.

But wait, there's more. 

It seems that Covid is impacting my blood pressure. I have hypertension which I manage with medication. Even with the medication, my blood pressure has blasted into the stratosphere. Obviously, that's adding to my fatigue.

I returned to work this past Tuesday, and felt well enough. Then Wednesday I awoke and just couldn't do it. My head was swathed in cotton balls. All I wanted to do was sleep. As I keep telling friends and family, this is the worst illness I can ever recall having.

"The worst illness I can ever recall having." Mark: this is with me being fully vaccinated and boosted. This is with me being careful. This is with me having had access to medication. I have no doubt that had I gotten sick without these prophylaxes, you would all be singing liturgies for the dead for me.

If what I've gone through, with all the preparations I made, has gotten me into such a state, imagine what happens to those who haven't been diligent. Illness and an early death.

I'm middle-aged. Mortality often intrudes into my consciousness. And now I'm worrying. Will my blood pressure normalize? Will I have long Covid? How long will I have to suffer with these lingering symptoms?

If we had had leadership which took the pandemic seriously, we may have been able to stop it within those first six months. But we didn't. We had a man in "charge" more worried about the effect of a mass shutdown on the economy, and thus his re-election chances. We had men in charge who withheld needed supplies from states deemed to be enemies. We had men in charge who launched after every quack "cure", rather than following the science. Bleach and horse dewormer were markers of independence from the nanny state. Expertise was something you could find on a YouTube channel.

Because of this, Covid will never go away. As my story shows, it's not "just the flu", even with all the protections I had. And this was a choice. This was a willful decision by men in power to downplay the pandemic's grave nature. It was the result of men willing the tide to not come in. Covid is not over. Covid will never be over. And people will suffer as-yet-unknown consequences when they fall ill.

I know I'm supposed to be a better man and say that I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Wrong. I wish this on anyone and everyone who didn't take the pandemic seriously. I wish it on those in leadership who abjured their responsibilities. I wish it on people who still, today, mock it. I'd like to think I'm a good man, but I have my limits. I want them to suffer the pain I have suffered. I'm not willing to wait for punishment in the next world; I want justice in this one.

Be careful, everyone. And stay safe.

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