Before I tell you about what I went thru (which isn’t that great of a story) I want to make it clear that I still support mask mandates (when shopping in public) and social distancing if eating out. I also think that the bars should limit patrons, because right now, it seems like they are a free for all. I also support vaccinations as soon as we can all get them. While my case wasn’t serious enough to hospitalize me and cause any long term effects (that I know of) it is very serious for people with underlying health conditions and other issues such as lack of health coverage, food security or employment.
While my illness probably wasn’t as dire as it is for other people, I can tell you one thing IT IS NOT THE SEASONAL FLU. All symptoms are much worse, and it lasts much longer. I was sick for around two weeks. Bad dry cough and headaches were my main symptoms. I also lost my smell and taste, and still only have partial back at this point. It is also hard to sleep when you have Covid due to chills or sweats, weird dreams and coughing/breathing. Like I said, I was fortunate to not have any serious breathing or lung issues, but I will say the worst part of the illness is the horrible headaches that last for days. I also did not receive any prescriptions. I basically battled through the symptoms with nasal spray, cough drops, lots of hydration, rest and Ibuprofen.
I was fortunate to have insurance and an employer who covered test costs and wages while I was sick.
The one thing I learned is that Covid could have been manageable not just nationally, or statewide but locally. We probably would not have had to close down a lot of things if we would have implemented a long term plan back in March so that businesses could stay open. I don’t know where I got the illness, but likely at work, but I do go out shopping so who really knows. The infection rate is so high right now I could have gotten it anywhere. I firmly believe that if Smithfield’s would not have had that large outbreak, we would have contained it pretty easily in Sioux Falls.
The most frustrating part about the pandemic is how we got to this place. If the Trump administration would have followed the pandemic plans left by the Obama administration and not disbanded the office we may have been in better shape than we are today. It also doesn’t help our country and state are led by lying idiots.
A part of me is relieved I got it once to experience and at least have short term immunity, hopefully long enough until I can get a vaccination. But I am also not naïve, I do realize I still am vulnerable and will practice all the same precautions I did before I got it. The way I look at it, I have been working in the office since it’s inception and it took this long to contract the virus, so the precautions I was taking at home, shopping or at work seemed to have mitigated it quite well and are a testament to mitigation efforts working if you apply them early and often as I did at work and while out in the community.
There is one important lesson I have learned from Covid, you have to take matters in your own hands if you want to keep yourself safe. No one else is going to save you. Leaders across the nation and locally have this enormous unwillingness to do anything, they call if ‘freedom’ I call it ‘incompetence’. This incompetence doesn’t have much affect on someone like me who has managed to stay safe, stay working and a roof over my head, but it does affect the vulnerable in the community. Leadership is not something I need either, I can easily make my way out of a wet paper bag. But government is not only for those who can fend for themselves, it is for those who need that extra help, that is what makes our Republic so remarkable, we help those in need and less fortunate. During this pandemic, we have failed these folks. While I count my blessings everyday since this started, even when I was in the middle of the floor coughing my brains out, I still felt awful for those who were not going to get thru this. Our supposed leaders failed us on this pandemic, and we all should be truly ashamed.