We are in the middle of a COVID uptick. These upticks now happen a few times a year. It will likely be a few more years before COVID-19 infections settle into a more stable pattern, like influenza, so it is worth commenting when an uptick happens, so people know what to expect and how to plan.
The drill is pretty simple. You are more likely to get COVID if you are out and about with other people, in congregate settings like bars and restaurants, schools, hospitals, and airports. For most of us, COVID is a bother, not a disaster. Most of us will get a runny nose, a fever, a cough, and feel tired for a few days, so we will miss a few days of work or school. Some of us – those who are over 65 and older and those with chronic disease- are at increased risk for hospitalization and death, but that risk is still pretty low, but it isn’t zero.
What do to? If you are young and healthy and don’t want to get sick, wear a mask when you are around other people. If you don’t care about getting sick, it’s business as usual. If and when you get sick, stay home, rest, and drink lots of fluids. If you are over 65 or have a chronic disease, now is a good time to get revaccinated or discuss a booster with your doctor, despite whatever RFK Jr. is saying this week. And if you are at really high risk, with severe chronic disease, consider staying home or away from congregate settings until this uptick blows over, likely in about two weeks.
But notice that there has been no public communication about COVID or this uptick from the CDC or the Department of Health. That’s because we have politicized public health, and everyone is afraid to speak.
However, ninety percent of public health is about communication. That we have become afraid to speak about what is good for everyone, that we have become afraid to communicate important public health information, that’s crazy.
So let’s heal this nation. And get back to a place where we can talk to one another again. So we can think and learn together. And be together again. And let’s get there as soon as we can, because this is no way for us to live.