Picture this: you can still get sick

Richard Barron, The Ada News, Okla.
·2 min read

Oct. 8—The COVID-19 situation has been going on for two-and-a-half years. We are all sick of it, and most of us got sick from it. I had "the rona" in January, and while I never felt my life was in danger, I was miserable. It was like the worst chest cold I'd ever had.

Recently one or more political leaders announced that we have transitioned from the pandemic state to the endemic state.

I understand why they would say that. Everyone wants their lives back.

It is with all this in mind that I got my fifth COVID-19 vaccination, which included the first two initial injections in early 2021, a booster in August 2021, a booster in May of this year, and the newest version of the vaccine, the covalent version, earlier this week. The covalent version includes protection from the Omicron variant that has become the dominant strain of the virus.

I'll be honest with my readers. Vaccines work, they save lives, and they are not part of any kind of a government effort to make us or keep us docile or sick. It's not a drug company scam. It's not a lie.

The COVID numbers aren't in the news much anymore, and I am as much to blame for that as any member of the media. We are as tired of reporting it as you are of reading about it. But it really is still out there. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, last week there were an average of 33,949 active cases in the United States, and an average of 360 deaths every day.

Those numbers are way down from the peak in January, but 360 deaths... ponder that for a minute. That's the equivalent of a mostly-full Boeing 747-8 crashing and killing everyone of board every day. I bet that would make the front page, and CNN's "break news" banner.

If you've read this far, you are probably wondering who I am to be preaching to you about a medical issue. I'm someone who pays attention. I'm someone who reads credible sources. I'm someone who ignores rumors and hearsay and memes and gossip. And I'm someone who is old enough to remember people who had smallpox and polio. I even had chicken pox.

I don't care about your political feelings concerning COVID and vaccines. I just really don't want anyone else to get sick.