What is it like to be or live with someone who is immunocompromised, elderly, or otherwise part of the high-risk population during COVID-19? Allow me to speak from a place of experience. While the flu season, in general, brings a feeling of angst and anxiety to this population, there simply aren’t words to describe the emotions that COVID-19 has brought. There is anger, there is helplessness, and above all, there is cold-blooded fear. This population has already spent the majority of the winter months cooped up in an effort to protect themselves from what they cannot control. “Getting out” used to mean heading to places that were considered marginally safe and washing up well afterward. Restaurants and shopping malls provided the perfect place to feel normal and part of society, without being completely susceptible to illness. All of that has changed in recent weeks. Now, “getting out” means going for a drive, but staying trapped inside the car because exiting for even a moment at a public place could put your life at risk. Along that drive, stopping for a coffee to keep you company now brings a feeling of despair. Ordering means you have to hand your debit card or cash to the person at the window, who just recently handled the same material from potentially hundreds who came before you. When you receive your order, you need to receive it with a Clorox wipe, because again, who knows who could have touched that cup? Suddenly the “treat” that you got for yourself in an effort to feel normal isn't so much of a treat. Enjoying it while smelling the Clorox you had to wipe it down with is less appealing than you had imagined. To get groceries, you try to outsmart the system by doing a grocery pick up, however, half the items you needed are no longer in stock and you forgot that the person bringing them to your car had just been in a grocery store and exposed to countless people. Back to the Clorox for the handles of each bag and hand sanitizer for yourself as you load them into the car. This is an example of what an “outing” for the day looks like currently. Feeling normal is completely out of the question for the time being. To those of you who continue to go out, please keep this population in mind. While you may not be threatened, there is an entire population of people living in fear. Please act out of kindness for them. You might not even realize that it is someone close to you. The wise words of “Be kind always, because you have no idea what someone beside you is enduring” ring true. Please take precautions out of kindness. You have NO idea who might be fighting this battle. #Itsnotaboutyou #bekind #stayhome
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