Another Covid Christmas

What’s the same this year? Trepidation over holiday gatherings as the Omicron variant portends another surge in this endless pandemic. Should we get together with friends and family? That’s a deeply personal question, with no right or wrong answers.

What’s different this year? Most of us have some level of protection via vaccination. So that’s good. Except, this Omicron variant seems particularly adept at sidestepping such vaccine immunity. Simply being vaccinated isn’t enough. Now, you need to be “boosted” – getting a booster dose of the vaccine boosts (pun intended) immunity greatly toward this latest, pernicious variant. So say the experts – doctors and scientists. The problem with this is that a lot of people are sick and tired of these same experts and the perception of their moving goalposts. A big sign across from the south entrance of Marist College calls it “insanity” … “the same vaccine, over and over again.” Pandemic fatigue, it’s called. Sick of mask mandates. Sick of vaccine propagation. Sick of it all. I get it. We live in a grown-up world and we need to adapt in a grown-up way. But everybody has their opinions, their limits, their thresholds for these things. We don’t have a manual or a roadmap for dealing with pandemics. These are the same conversations we’ve been having for almost two years now.

And so, we plug along, living life on eggshells again, riding this latest wave of … whatever it is and whatever it will be. I’m not a scientist or an expert – not even close – but the end goal here is not the eradication of the virus, as that doesn’t seem to be an option. Rather, it seems to me now that the end goal is something called endemicity. Which, if I get the concept accurately, means that the virus is with us all the time, but at a low hum and as a constant undercurrent of our everyday lives. In other words, it’s like other infectious diseases – influenzas, upper respiratory infections, etc. They come and go, we deal with it, we stay home when we’re sick, and we live our lives. That sounds … normal. That sounds like … something we could live with. Here’s the thing! We’re not there yet, folks. Omicron -- and its multiple, evil spike proteins -- might have some devilish tricks up its sleeves. Let’s hope it’s not too disruptive. Let’s try to keep the “happy” in Happy Holidays and the “merry” in Merry Fitness. OK.