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Infection reigns and we're keeping the wolves at bay. Two years on and we finally had COVID-19 in the house last week. And now we're over it. And still feeling the effects. But happy to be healthy-ish again and to understand that the vaccines seem to be working as designed.
The collected stories of people making things that matter and inspiring others to do the same.
Hello friends and welcome to this special Playhouse edition of the story forge podcast. Keeping the wolves at bay, we are here. You can probably hear my voice. I am congested in that will be explained momentarily. So Dateline Florida, January 2022. All three of us have it now. We're all vaccinated. Heather and I are boosted. Aiden is not eligible for his booster yet. But here we are almost two years on P owed because we made it this far. And now, through a patient exposure and Heather's practice, we think we've been infected. Sure, vaccines are doing what they're supposed to do. None of us are in the hospital. Heather has something like the worst flu upper respiratory infection she's ever had. I'm congested and foggy headed. Aiden is basically an asymptomatic, but we have it. Sure, they said 70 to 80% of adults would get it before it was all over. But we lasted so long. And we feel defeated by our environment. Our friends, Jim and Sarah in California haven't had it yet. Darn them. But the numbers in California are completely different than they are here in the Free State of Florida. And I feel defeated. I remember reading several years ago about them finding a plague grave somewhere in London, when they were excavating an archaeological site, or a new building. Or maybe it was a car park. I'm not sure. I'm also not sure who them was but the thought there in London and other places at the time. The concern was what happens if the plague comes back from here in modern society? Seriously, the idea that the bubonic plague reemerged from a hole in the London ground was a real concern. What if the Black Death took hold among the European population again, this time in the modern era. Some historians estimate the Great Plague killed off 30 to 60% of the European population between 1346 and 1353. That's something like 75 to 200 million souls. Contrast that to the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed somewhere between 51 and 100 million people around the world 675,000 They say in the US. They say AIDS is responsible for more than 35 million deaths since 1981. And the Ebola outbreak in 2014 to 16, killed only about 11,000. But something like 66% of those infected died. So a resurgence of the plague would be bad, and they worried about it in the news. It made the news because no one was thinking about what a plague might look like in the modern world before them. Very few of us not in public health anyway. But today we find ourselves almost two years on from the onset of a novel virus, neck deep in an entirely changed vocabulary from when it began. Coronavirus kung fu wet market COVID-19 Where does the 19 come from? Anyway they asked for the record it comes from the year it was discovered. Novel novel virus social distancing, aerosol viral load mutation variant masks mask policy mask mandate school days dashboards lockdown lock in quarantine knuckles elbows freedom personal liberty, bodily independence travel restrictions testing PCR rapid test vaccine jab passport vaccination card Delta Omicron Omicron ba one Omicron ba two wave spike hotspot infection rate. So many words we never really used before. New York, California, Florida, free Florida lawless Florida almost two years on and we've worn masks we've stayed in. We've left space. We've stayed outside, we've given fist fives and elbows. We've given and received dirty looks. We've had the flu. Truly. We actually had the flu. But mostly we've been healthy until this week. I've been working at home, too. Just back and forth to the local Publix. The number of other masks around me would go up and down over the duration based on the local feeling of fear and rising or falling numbers mostly. Our friends in New York and California would be confused by how normal most people were acting here. But the past two weeks, most people have given up the masks in public and even indoor places. 15 to 20% would be a high number in a crowded place Aiden's been back in school, enthusiastically mask, not fearful, but most of his classmates and teachers are bare faced, and the numbers go up. Surprise. Heather's acupuncture practice was open until she tested positive Omicron left her with many, many cancellations. She's had policies in place masks one patient at a time traffic through the door thermometers symptomatic rescheduling. He had somehow sniffles body aches fever. Heather was down hard for a few days. We home tested Heather pas Aiden paws, but asymptomatic me neg PCR test that the health department negative for all of us. I don't think they dug hard enough in the nasal cavities to get an accurate result. Sleep soup. more sleep. retest A few days later, faint pink for me. retest A few days later. Nag on my loving family. Pause for me. congestion, headache, curiously no fever staying in groceries on delivery. A few days later. Negative tests but still tired, congested COVID fog and reduced focus and failing vocabulary. But everyone is vast and appropriately boosted and not seriously ill like so many before the vaccine existed two years on so far. vaccine against the virus vexed that we finally caught the damn thing. I honestly thought we'd get through unscathed. The World Health Organization said at the beginning, they expected 70 to 80% of the adult population of the world to get it at some point. But I believed it would pass us over. Maybe that's just American optimism at work. The vaccines got invented and made and distributed. And they're doing what they were supposed to do. Keep us from going to the hospital and dying. But still, we made it so far. There's a little feeling of defeat and living in plague house this week. But after we'll be as protected as we can be. Be careful out there. Keep those wolves at bay.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai