Beware, COVID-19 is still lurking locally

I thought I was going to dodge this bullet. 

I didn’t. 

After masking up, getting vaccinated and boosted, and avoiding getting sick for more than two years while pretty much living a normal life in terms of being around crowds and high exposure events, COVID-19 finally got me. 

I figured by this time with the virus being so diluted in its strength and the number of cases dropping that I was in the clear. I thought I’d beat it. After all, I was fully vaccinated, ate the right foods and took the right vitamins recommended for a guy my age, but last Tuesday I got hit with a sucker punch. 

I was feeling a cold coming on late Tuesday afternoon. I didn’t think much of it because going from high heat to frigid air conditioning will do that to me. That evening after work Sandy and I went to see “Top Gun Maverick” again (yes, it’s that good!) When we got home, I was feeling much worse and Sandy noted that we have COVID home test kits, so I tried one. The positive result came back instantly. 

After a group text with my co-workers, I opted to go back to the office and get the East Bernard Express out while no one else was there to get exposed by me. Then I came home and crashed. The next day I felt awful. I did a televisit with my doctor’s office and got medicines prescribed. 

Now we wait. Based on my doctor’s recommendation and company protocol, I’m stuck at home until Monday. This is both good and bad. It’s good because I’m finally getting the much-needed rest that my body has been crying out for throughout the last few weeks. I also just received a review copy of “Rising Tiger” by Brad Thor and have been able to dive right into it. On the other hand, it has cost me the opportunity to photograph the Astros on Wednesday and the Space Cowboys this weekend. It’s also making me miss some other really cool volunteer opportunities, but that’s life. 

One of the unexpected benefits to getting sick has been weight loss. I’ve been trying to drop weight since Jan. 1 and have been on a plateau for several weeks. Since getting COVID I’ve dropped four pounds as of this writing and suspect it will go much lower by Monday. I don’t have an appetite and my body has been, how should we say, expediting the expulsion of waste products. 

This appears to be a year for me to get minor cases of major diseases. As some of you may recall, earlier this year I was diagnosed with two basal cell skin cancers. In terms of cancers, it’s the least harmful one you can get. I had surgeries to have them removed and they do not require the chemo and radiation that go with so many other cancer treatments. 

In terms of bad health, I’ve been lucky. Still, I have what is considered to be a mild case of COVID. If this is mild, I’d hate to see what a bad case is like. I’m fortunate that it has not impacted by breathing and I have not lost the senses of taste and smell (although walking into the bathroom is enough to make me wish I couldn’t smell). 

One thing that really troubles me is how many people want to politicize COVID. Come on people, it’s a health issue, not a political one. I made a post about my diagnosis on Facebook, and while most people were well-wishing and sympathetic, there are some who just couldn’t help but take political digs. 

As a journalist during COVID, I’ve spoken to enough medical professionals, people who have had COVID, and those who have lost loved ones to the disease, to know that it is very real and still a threat. Now I’m talking from first-hand experience. 

The thing is, no matter how badly we want this disease to be over and for our lives to get back to normal, it is still a reality and something we must maintain our guard against. I thought I had dodged the COVID bullet, but it got me. If it got me, it can still get you. It might not be deadly anymore, but it is horrifically inconvenient and not fun. 

Joe Southern is managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spectator.com.

Examine the root cause of mass killings

I wish I could say I feel angry or outraged by another school shooting. 

I don’t. Maybe I’m just calloused. Maybe it’s that I’m just not surprised anymore. The sad thing is, instead of feeling upset about the shooting, I was more concerned about how difficult life was about to become on social media. Things get really ugly on sites like Facebook whenever issues of gun control and mass murder surface, which is all too often. I see friendships end and respect lost every time it happens. 

Don’t misunderstand, the senseless murder of 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde is horrifying and very disturbing. I am bothered by it. Like everyone else, I want answers to the cause of all these mass shootings. Everywhere you turn there is the usual rhetoric about gun control, mental health, school security, etc. It’s like an endless cycle of shooting, ranting and forgetting. 

 How do we stop it? First, we have to look at what started it. We’ve had automatic and semi-automatic weapons since the early 1900s and went decades without this type if violence. What has changed in society to prompt such horrific acts of violence? This list is long, and not without controversy. Contributing factors date back more than 60 years. 

Consider these things collectively: 

• Taking prayer out of schools; 

• Not saying pledge of allegiance at school; 

• Ending corporal punishment (spanking); 

• The advent of two-income households; 

• Latchkey kids; 

• Legalized abortion; 

• No-fault divorce; 

• Violent media (video games, television, movies, etc.); 

• Racism; 

• Drugs; 

• Disrespect of elders; 

• Families leaving the church (or other houses of worship); 

• Countercultural music (from the ’60s punk to rap and hip-hop); 

• Questioning authority; 

• Idolizing actors and athletes; 

• Increased screen time; 

• Commonplace usage of foul language; 

• Declining moral values; etc. 

The list could go on, but you get the point. These things by themselves are not the problem. It’s when you put the pieces together you see the image like a completed jigsaw puzzle. We let go of God. We weakened authority. We devalued life. We’ve disconnected from each other. 

I know there are some who say I blame women for leaving the home and entering the workforce. I’m not saying that women shouldn’t work and shouldn’t lead – they can and should. I’m just pointing out that things were better for children, families, and communities when back when women fully embraced their roles as homemakers, mothers, and wives. With both parents having to work outside the home, the family unit suffers. It’s a crumbling cornerstone of society. 

 It leaves children unsupervised, undisciplined, and stuck in the care of institutions that are not geared to nurture them. Anymore, a child spends more time facing a digital screen than they do their own parents. They listen to music with vulgar and violent lyrics. They’ve learned that if Mom and Dad don’t care, why should anyone else. Why should they respect teachers, coaches, and other adults or even their own peers? Why behave if there are no substantial consequences? 

With abortion, we have taught that life is disposable. If it’s inconvenient, eliminate it. The same goes for marriage and no-fault divorce. A marriage is more than a contract, it’s a vow of the highest, most solemn commitment. Getting a divorce should require fault and have appropriate consequences. 

Back in the 1970s, baby boomers were referred to as the “me generation.” That hasn’t changed. Their children and grandchildren have grown up narcissistic to a degree not seen before. 

When you start putting these pieces together you begin to see why school shootings and other acts of violence are becoming more commonplace. The discussion we need to have isn’t about controlling guns, it’s about controlling behavior and restoring respect, honor, dignity, caring, and love to generations that have lost them. 

 Guns have been around for centuries. It wasn’t the creation of automatic and semi-automatic weapons that led to mass shootings. It was the devaluing of human life and the breakup of families and family values that pulled the trigger. 

That’s a discussion I could get passionate about. That’s something that could turn things around and perhaps chip away the callousness felt whenever people are killed like they were in Uvalde. That’s the discussion that can save lives and end this madness. 

Joe Southern is the managing editor of the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the East Bernard Express. He can be reached at news@journal-spactator.com.