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.