Common sense

A family member (vaccinated, no symptoms) tested positive last week. He’s fine, no problem. Two close friends (both vaccinated, one boosted) are both Covid positive, and currently dealing with not insignificant symptoms. They are not young, and both are grateful to have had the vaccine as added protection for their respective illnesses (this is not a "political" statement but rather echoing their thoughts; they are hurting physically but also feel fortunate). Please understand that this stuff is real. It’s not the flu. It’s not the common cold. But it’s also not January 2021 (which is good). It’s also not January 2020, when things were still “normal” (although the rumblings of this mess were being felt behind the scenes). Anyway, back to January 2022. Hundreds of thousands of people a day are testing positive for Covid (most likely, this omicron variant). The need for vigorous contact tracing, endless quarantines and isolation – that’s so 2021. On my way home from jogging this morning, I heard on the radio that because of the sheer high volume of Covid cases, and because a fair amount of them are mild or asymptomatic cases, we won’t be getting calls from state-contracted contact tracers anymore. That's over, done with. We’re not getting countdowns on how many more days of quarantine or isolation we must endure. It’s now five days (or six really, if you factor in that the first day is actually “Day 0” …). Again. This stuff remains real, folks. However, we are slowly, gradually pivoting to the “common sense” phase of this pandemic. Or, as the fancy scientists say, the “endemic” phase. We’re not there yet with the endemic thing. But the "common sense" approach? We can always be there! 

The “common sense” approach goes something like this: If you feel sick, stay home. If you feel sick, stay away from other people until you feel better. If you don’t feel sick but you have a runny nose, a cough, a scratchy throat, etc. … maybe stay home or maybe go live your life but stay away from people as much as possible and/or wear a mask. We can argue about mask mandates and the effectiveness of face coverings. We can bicker about vaccine mandates and/or the need for booster shots. We can roll our eyes at the “wash hands, wash hands, wash hands” finger wagging. We can squabble over anything and everything. It is, it seems, the American Way. So, as always in life, we have choices. We can take it seriously. Or we can not take it seriously. We can take parts of it seriously. We can do whatever we want, I suppose. But really, what we CAN do and what we SHOULD do are often at odds. I can’t tell you what to do. I can suggest something that most of us can agree upon, and that is a “common sense” approach. Have an awareness of how you feel. If you are sick, stay away. If you feel better, still be careful. If you feel fine, congratulations. Enjoy that feeling, because eventually, you’ll probably get it. What’s “IT?” Sick. Covid. Cold. Flu. Sinus infection. Stomach bug. Something. Anything. It’s January. Don’t matter what year. It’s January. Most of us are gonna get it. Why? Because it’s everywhere. People implore us to “follow the science.” That’s all well and good, but even that pisses some people off. So I’ll try to not piss you off and impart very simple advice: Follow common sense. Or even better, as Gattine says when he signs off his morning shift on Radio Woodstock: “Spread out, spread love.”