After being careful, washing my hands, keeping my distance, disinfecting everything I could get my hands on, wearing a mask and avoiding crowds, I came down with COVID-19 about a week before Christmas. I'm not sure exactly where it came from, though I am suspicious that it might have been transmitted by a fellow employee who had it, but who came to work until he got his test results at work one day. Pretty sure that's where it came from. But I can say that I was never so sick from anything else I've ever had in my life, including colon cancer and a bad strep infection. It somehow got into my digestive system and it was like the flu on steroids.
Fortunately, it did not invade my lungs. I spent eight days in the hospital dreading the possibility of intubation, on a floor of one of the wings of the hospital designated for COVID-19 patients. I could hear the coughing of other patients in nearby rooms. I had no appetite and couldn't eat, didn't feel like drinking but kept forcing myself to drink water, couldn't raise up in bed and the first couple of nights were miserable episodes of spiking fever, throwing up and aching all over. I cannot describe the joy I felt the first time I went 24 hours without fever, when I got up out of the bed and was able to walk a few steps, and when the doctor said that I could go home on Christmas Eve. We hadn't even put up the tree this year, nothing was decorated, no shopping or presents, but it was the best Christmas of my life.
They kept the doors to the rooms closed on the hallway of the COVID wing, I thought to keep down the spread of the virus, but it was so you couldn't see the nurses running to an emergency, or bodies being moved out after someone died. That would have been most discouraging. I'm glad I didn't know until I left.
That is not an experience I would wish on anyone else. It was miserable in terms of the physical symptoms, which is why I called it "flu on steroids". It was frightening because for the first few days I could tell I wasn't getting any better and I was afraid it would lead to bigger problems. About 10% of those who get COVID get sick enough to have to be hospitalized, far more than any other viral-caused illness.
At the first available opportunity, my wife and I went to get vaccinated. We waited in the line, got the shot and were out in about an hour. The second time went much faster because the lines for the first vaccine were shorter. After both shots, I got a little achy and drowsy, but after about 24 hours, all was fine. It was worth it. I don't want to get this virus again and I have a right to take all of the medical precautions not to get it. What we have done will contribute to eradicating the virus and getting to the point where wearing masks, and all the other precautions, will no longer be necessary. And it also contributes to not having another lockdown as a result of COVID-19. It was doing a patriotic duty, putting the interests of others ahead of our own, and whatever inconvenience was involved was well worth it.
Then there are those who are whining and complaining about government intrusion, about not wanting to wear a mask because, frankly, they just don't like to do it and don't like the government telling them they have to. They are the people who don't keep their distance, who insist that the seriousness of COVID-19 and the whole pandemic are being exaggerated on purpose, just so the government can control people's lives. They are the ones who spread the false information about the effectiveness of the vaccine, some insisting that a micro chip is inserted into your body with it in order to "track" your movements. They think their "rights" are more important than the rights, and by extension the lives, of others because, after all, the survival rate from COVID-19 is 99 percent (it's actually about 96%) and the people who are dying are old and have co-morbidities, so they don't really count, right?
So let's take stock here. In exercising my rights, I am taking steps toward not having to wear masks and not having restrictions on what can be open or how many people can go there. My actions, and the similar actions of everyone else who is vaccinated and wearing a mask, contributes toward the goal of not having to wear masks or comply with a potential lockdown, and toward eventual eradication of the virus. Those exercising their right not to wear a mask and not to get the vaccine are contributing to the continued spread of the virus, making continued restrictions, including mask wearing, mandatory, increasing the potential of another mandatory lockdown, and putting more people's lives at risk.
If it were just a matter of those making the choice not to be vaccinated or wear a mask, then I'd say let them suffer the effects of their own ignorance and stupidity. But the fact of the matter is that their behavior puts others at risk, and their Constitutional rights and individual freedom does not include the right to do that. The government in this country is "of, by, for" the people, of which I'm one, and if I'm willing to do what I need to do to help stop the spread of this virus, for my own benefit as well as others, then I'll do it. And that makes me a Patriot. If some people won't, because they believe conspiracy theories and want to make a political issue out of it, or they're just ignorant and stupid, they shouldn't be allowed to get on a plane, buy a seat at a ball game, go to a movie or play, shop in the grocery store, eat in a restaurant or send their kids to school. They made their choice not to contribute to making things better. And that makes them a deplorable subversive.
The selfishness that is being exhibited by refusing to get vaccinated yet shrieking and flapping lips over personal rights, conspiracy theories and government intrusion is, frankly, pathetic insanity. Stupidity and ignorance are protected free speech rights, but choices also have consequences.
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