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Key points
- A new COVID variant means new rules and restrictions.
- Being vaccinated might not be enough to keep you and your loved ones safe.
- COVID rage is real. Don't let it stop you from doing what you need to do in order to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
Like a virus, COVID Rage is slowly creeping into our consciousness. Just the other night, a neighbor, someone I would normally describe as kind and soft-spoken, blurted out that she thought any unvaccinated person that got hospitalized with COVID and refused to wear a mask should be denied insurance coverage and perhaps be treated with a punch in the nose.
I’m not usually into the blame game, but…
There was a moment yesterday while I was having lunch outside, with a doubly vaccinated friend, six feet away from the neighboring table, when a woman sat down near us (without a mask), took out her phone, turned up the volume, and proceeded to broadcast a program about wearing masks and getting vaccinated that claimed the whole COVID thing was a conspiracy somehow connected to Satan.
Rather than laughing it off, I started to get annoyed. Then I got angry. Halfway through my sandwich, it was all I could do to not go over to her table and tell her she needed to shut off her phone and do the right thing and get vaccinated.
What stopped me was the realization that she wanted me to hear what she was listening to. She wanted me to know she wasn’t vaccinated. She wanted a confrontation… and what I wanted was the whole COVID thing to be done. In a split-second rational moment, I knew yelling at her wasn’t going to make things right for either one of us.
My anger didn’t go away; it just slid into a dark sea of frustration.
Two months ago, those of us who are vaccinated were told that it was safe to go about our business and take off our masks. We went boldly to the grocery store, began dreaming about attending a movie or a concert, made plans for a vacation, invited friends for dinner, had a picnic in the park, checked the box that said we were planning to attend a long-postponed wedding, and even thought about making the shift from working at home to working in the office again with colleagues. Oh yeah, and fingers crossed, whispered a prayer that our children could go back to school and be safe.
Then the Delta virus reared its lethal head with the help of a rather staggering population of unvaccinated folks and changed everything.
We were all back to square one. Masks on. Plans changed. Vacations on hold. While the numbers of cases and hospitalizations first doubled, then tripled, and in some places even surpassed the worst of the first go-round with COVID, an edge of depression crept in, and righteous anger took hold.
I make no excuses for how I feel about this turn of events. During the first wave of COVID, the vaccinated among us took care of ourselves, our families, friends, neighbors, and even strangers by getting vaccinated and wearing masks. We also stayed home. We didn’t go into grocery stores. We dined on lukewarm takeout in the hopes of keeping our favorite restaurants in business. We postponed vacations. Didn’t share holidays with our extended families. Didn’t go to the movies or concerts, and like everyone, vaccinated or not, we worked from home and homeschooled our children.
It was a 24/7 juggling act that went on way too long. It took its toll on everyone. We all felt isolated. Sometimes overwhelmed. Sometimes bored. Always a little afraid COVID wasn’t going to go away and would, in fact, rule our lives forever.
There’s talk of other variants possibly developing because there are still too many unvaccinated folks to host the virus and allow its mutations. The herd immunity we had hoped for is a long shot and a long way away. Truly alarming is the reality that many new variants are more potent and appear to be more easily spread than the original virus. Folks need to get vaccinated. Now. They also need to start wearing masks again.
I’m vaccinated, and I wear a mask everywhere I go. I’m trying to think of it as a badge of courage, not an inconvenience.
Masks might not be beautiful or comfortable, but they do offer a badly needed additional layer of protection.
Suck it up, my little vaccinated Buttercup! Get a mask. Put it on.
Do your part to make the world safe and sane again.
