Mom
My mom is 82 years old and resides at a specialty memory care facility in Lacey, WA. I haven’t seen her for over 6 months since all visitation is suspended. Even though I miss my visits with her, I know that the risks of bringing covid -19 into the facility would be too great, and the results potentially devastating. The entire facility is taking extreme precautions when it comes to incoming goods and services, staff monitoring and mitigation, and other sanitary measures, so there isn’t any potential for infection. This is both heartbreaking, yet the correct thing to do given the current circumstances.
A couple of months ago my mom’s facility tested all residents and staff, and all came back negative. Just last week one of the staff members called in sick for two days with the usual symptoms, and was sent to a clinic for testing. This test came back positive. So after all this time that covid has been with us, the facility has just completed only their second round of testing, which took a few days to get the results. Luckily no one else came back positive, likely due to their mitigation efforts, but testing is still too slow, and not in sufficient numbers to get all the testing we would like. So as I think of my mom maybe wondering why she hasn't seen my face for so long, I can't help but doubt the overall success we are attempting to achieve if the staff, whom I'm hopeful take every precaution at home and on errands to remain safe, can’t receive adequate testing to assure it’s not one of them that brings this deadly virus into the facility. Thankfully there will soon be rapid testing more readily available for all including the facility, so that staff can be tested more regularly. A big improvement, but we as a nation shouldn’t be at all proud of our progress on the disease.
Thousands have died from this disease, and we’re certain to lose many more. While reopening was, and is essential for our economic survival, it has in many cases across the nation been done prematurely resulting in rising cases and deaths. There are some positive results from therapeutics like remdesivIr, that have reduced hospitalization, and potentially saved lives. Doctors have learned new procedures that can help save lives as well. Vaccines have been developed and are in testing. PPE is not as hard to come by as when this pandemic started, though the fact that we were ill prepared and still catching up remains.
The truth is this virus is alive and well, and is always looking for a new host. It won't care if you're from a blue state, or a red state, Democrat, or Republican. It won't care if you believe in the science that we have compiled on this virus to date regarding mitigation, and treatments. It really couldn’t care less if you believe this virus can be somehow political, how is that even possible?
We wear a mask out in public areas, keep our social distancing, wash our hands, and stay away from large crowds. It’s very inconvenient, but it's not hard. This is something that if we are going to defeat, must be done together. So for those individuals that want to make their own choice regarding current scientific recommendations, or those that have been convinced somehow the US along with close to 200 other countries are all keeping up some charade until November 3rd to hurt Trump's chances in the election, or worse yet, it's not even real, it won't help us at all in our quest to become covid free. If we can’t do this for ourselves, and tribalism is too much to overcome, then who can? I, like most, really hate wearing a mask at all times around others, especially with the summer heat. It’s all depressing, and it’s getting old. But if all this is too much for you, or you feel as if it can't hurt you, or it’s not worth your time to take all safety precautions for covid, I want you to think of one thing, as I do every day... Mom.