Post-Lockdown: Venturing Out When You’re Chronic
We seem to have decided that the pandemic is more or less over, taking off masks and flinging them in the air in celebration. Of course, those of us who are high risk due to rheumatoid arthritis and other types of medical conditions know we are not quite out of the woods yet. For people with chronic illness, it’s not as simple as leaving your mask at home for good. So what to you do to keep safe? I share my approach in my new column for HealthCentral:
“THE OTHER DAY while out for a walk, I felt the wind on my whole face and exchanged smiles with strangers on the sidewalk. I’m pumped for the full reopening after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and being safe around others again. But at the same time, I get really nervous when watching movies where strangers stand close together or footage from concerts showing thousands of people in the same room scream-singing along to the music. As a person with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), who takes medication that suppresses my immune system, I still worry about being at risk and how to interact with others as we go back to a less-careful world.
When I received my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, I promptly started crying as the doctor pulled the needle out of my arm. The feeling of relief that washed over me after a year of being terrified every single day was indescribable. It felt like putting on a shield, although it’s not an impermeable, guaranteed protection quite yet. We simply don’t know enough about how the vaccine protects against the variants of the coronavirus and whether people like me actually are as protected as the average person who got the shot. Early results of studies on autoimmune disease and the COVID-19 vaccine show that those of us who live with these conditions may not develop a full immune response and may therefore need booster shots within six months. The next few months should see more definitive results from the studies.”
Read the article on staying safe with chronic illness during what is hopefully the tail end of the pandemic.
Tag: chronic illness, end of lockdown, high-risk, how to stay safe, pandemic, RA, rheumatoid arthritis
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We have learned much. We know we can make it if we have to. We know about 60% of people in Indiana are compliant; the other 40% not so much. We learned that of the 40% who are not so much, 50% of them will never change and that 30% might change but that a full 70% will do it so long as no one is looking. We know that a full 5 in the state can be trusted, and three of them live somewhere else. That means one of the two tells the truth. I am told I am not that one. 🙂