Perspective

 

It can be very easy to feel discouraged by the latest news about "break through" cases of COVID in vaccinated persons and an overall uptick in cases for unvaccinated persons. Uncertainty of the trajectory of the pandemic once again brings great concern to public health officials and to the general population. The only thing I can control is what choices I make about the risks I choose to take when going out and choosing my perspective. My family and I made the choice to get vaccinated.

We are now choosing to wear a mask indoors. 

I absolutely loved this editorial from CNN written by Comilla Sasson, MD, Ph.D. She compared navigating COVID to being on an airplane. 

When we get to cruising altitude, the seatbelt light turns off and we can now move freely aboard the aircraft. But sometimes we hit turbulence. When the pilot comes on the speakers and says, "time to get back in your seats and put your seat belt on," we (most of us at least), find our seats, put on our seatbelts, and brace ourselves for a rocky ride. 

 

When we put our seatbelts on, do we ask ourselves, why didn't the pilots, flight attendants or air control predict this? Do we question the credibility, reliability, or intentions of our flight crew? Nope. We understand that things can change quickly, and we must adjust to the conditions. There is a reason for what we are doing.

 

She goes on to say,

Well, Covid-19 is the biggest, scariest pandemic plane ride, and the entire world is currently on it together. When we go into lockdowns, restrict travel, and mandate masks and other prevention strategies, health care and public health officials, along with government workers, make these decisions, based on the data they have, with conditions changing quickly, in order to keep the public safe. 

 

Vaccines came out and are ridiculously effective in preventing people from becoming hospitalized as a result of Covid-19. We had hit that beautiful cruising altitude in our pandemic plane ride, where we could all take a breath, literally and figuratively, and take off our masks, see family & friends again, and reopen businesses and schools. 

 

But the vaccines are not a silver bullet. We can still get Covid-19. But the chances are dramatically lower that we will get Covid-19 if we are vaccinated, and even if we do, it will be a mild case that does not require hospitalization. What we didn't and couldn't predict, is how quickly Covid-19 itself changes, how much of the world remains unvaccinated, and that this novel coronavirus, which no one had heard of or had to treat just 24 months ago, would cause these crazy, unpredictable, turbulent conditions. 

 

Tom and I ran in a torrential downpour last week. Our perspective kept us moving mile after mile until we hit the 5K mark which was our goal. It was relatively warm outside. Soon there would be snow and ice so we wanted to enjoy being outdoors without layers upon layers of clothing. We are healthy and enjoy our time together unplugged. When Ruth Anne and I were in the middle of a run and it started to drizzle, we had perspective that at least it was not the torrential downpour on our previous run.

After last year's experience, we have a very different perspective on this year's uptick in COVID cases. There is hope with the vaccine and knowledge that with masking, vaccination, social distancing and good hygiene as well as investing in our individual health and well-being, we can and will end the pandemic. We flattened the curve and we can do it again!

 

A new language emerged last year that included phrases such as mask up, social distancing, fully vaxed, lock down, quarantine, Phased Reopenings and supply chain shortages. As we emerge from the pandemic, I see phrases such as Post-Pan (We Hope) and Quasi-Pandemic. A year ago, those phrases were not even on our radar. There is no State of Emergency splashed at the top of every page across our home-delivered Boston Globe.

That space on our bookcase for masks just in case is now once again filled with masks and are part of our regular laundry. 

The risk of contracting COVID as a fully vaccinated family is extremely low and we are keeping that risk low by re-instituting wearing masks and being mindful of what social activities we plan to be a part of.

Last year we had to wear masks all the time and the risk of contracting COVID was quite high limiting our choices of what we could do and where we could go.

Is it disheartening that officials declared the pandemic over and we were set free to live our lives only to see the metrics moving in a direction indicating that the pandemic is not yet over?

Of course but I prefer to keep everything in perspective living with an attitude of gratitude and seeing how far we've come from where we were last year at this time.

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness,
Mary

Visit my website to learn more about my journey of transformation in the wake of paralytic polio and trauma to the finish line of the 2009 Boston Marathon and beyond.

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