Watch out, COVID numbers are on the rise again | THE MOM STOP

Thankfully, the height of the pandemic seems like a long-ago memory ― the masking, the wiping down of groceries, the stocking of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. A very long nightmare, but one that is distant in memory.

It’s something I’m reminded of when I open my laundry room cabinet and see a few bottles of leftover hand sanitizer sitting on the back shelf. Or when cleaning out my car and find our masks stuffed in the glove compartment box. Or the realization that our entry-way credenza, which we used to use as a junk drawer, it still stuffed with the kids face masks.

More: Worst of times can bring out the best in humanity | THE MOM STOP

I’m thankful for vaccines, and the reality that the pandemic is over.

But COVID isn’t gone.

It’s a truth I was reminded of recently, when I was flying back from a conference in Seattle. Having been gone from home for almost a week, I was looking forward to being home and having the weekend with my family. However, thanks to several flight delays, it took me a lot longer to get home than expected. On a late-night flight back to Alabama, I started to have a bad headache. Then came the chills, almost like I had a fever.

I asked the flight attendant for some hot tea. Certainly, the symptoms were just my body’s reaction to traveling for 18 hours straight, right? I thought so. Until my fever spiked at 103 degrees the next day and lasted through the weekend. I slept between 12 to 15 hours a day, too exhausted and feverish to do anything else. I was at home, but I was quarantined away from the rest of my family out of precaution.

I had COVID.

It wasn’t my first time, but my third. And I’ve received so many COVID vaccines and boosters that it’s hard to count. But unlike the first two times with COVID, when I hardly had any symptoms, save for a loss of smell, this time was different. This time, I really was sick.

Across the U.S., COVID numbers are on the rise again, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with higher reported cases in Western U.S., and a moderate increase in positive tests for the rest of the country.

In states like California and Nevada, positive tests reached 20% or greater, according to the CDC. Those numbers may be higher and harder to track, since many cases, mine included, were done with an at-home test, and never reported at all. The CDC also uses wastewater to detect COVID cases and has found high or very high cases in much of the U.S., especially in Western states.

What does that mean for those of us at home?

With kids finishing up summer camps and getting ready for back to school, we’ve pulled out the face masks again to use in crowded public places, especially when I was quarantining with COVID at home. We’ve started using hand sanitizer more, out of precaution.

The pandemic is over, but unfortunately COVID is here to stay. Here’s to hoping the recent COVID numbers go down soon ― and hoping the rest of my family members don’t get it the way I did.

Lydia Seabol Avant writes The Mom Stop for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at momstopcolumn@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Pandemic may be over, but COVID is still around | THE MOM STOP