Tag: CDC guidelines

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HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU COVID PANICKED?

Covid panic attacks were something new to me.   I remember my first one, after a family gathering on a Sunday in March of 2019.  Our county had only a handful of cases then, so there wasn’t a lot to worry about.  And then, the CDC  rang the alarm bells.  I woke up that next morning with a stuffy nose and slightly scratchy throat.  Not at all unusual, because I have year round allergies.  But this time, I felt prickles of alarm under my skin.  The next two days had me in a state of worry.  Was I coming down with Covid? Finally , I calmed down, thinking that was the last time I would have such a scare.  But it wasn’t. How often have you Covid panicked  these past couple of years?

How often have you covid panicked the past two years? And will we ever feel safe again?
How often have you covid-panicked the last couple of years. And will we ever feel safe in public again?

At first, since we had under 10 cases in our city I decided it would be safe to go shopping   Only a few people wore masks.  But I had a box of surgery masks that I began to use immediately.  Along with hand sanitizer and gloves.  As the weeks wore on, panic began to spread in our city as cases rose.

  Once, I was grocery shopping when I heard someone cry out “don’t wear those gloves.”  Startled, I turned to see an angry masked woman standing a few feet away. “Don’t you know those things spread the virus?” She said. “I’m a nurse, and I know.”  She proceeded to show me how you touch everything with your gloves, then your face and skin, etc.”  She said using hand sanitizer was the only safe way to go.

I realized that as a nurse, she was in a heightened state of fear because by now, she had seen people die of Covid.  So I didn’t argue with her.  But I did remove my gloves in the car and apply more hand sanitizer.  I used so much of that stuff in the next year that my fingers began to itch and burn.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t about to give up my shopping trips.  , I only went out once a week ,and came back with a car trunk loaded with bags .Afterwards, , I might have another Covid panic .  I heard rumors of people who had caught the virus on trips to the pharmacy while picking up prescriptions.

It was another year before the vaccine was developed, and we were the first in line to get one.  After our second shot, we thought we were back to normal.  Went out to dinner  Celebrated birthdays.  No more Covid panic attacks. Had a great summer in 2020—even celebrated my birthday with children and grandchildren from afar.  Got a booster shot in the Fall of 2021. Then came omicron, hundreds of cases,  and we were back to masking, staying home, and yes, having covid panic attacks after shopping trips..

The cases are beginning to ebb, and soon, we can stopping wearing masks.  However,  a lot of us will never feel quite so  safe again when shopping.   How often have you Covid panicked in the last two years?

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LIBRARY GETS AN A FOR EFFORT

If there is one thing I could never do without, it’s the library. Libraries have always been a place of refuge and joy for me. I grew up walking to the library from the time I was eight years old. That was before a child walking by herself  a few blocks from home wasn’t considered child abuse.  It wasn’t just the library I loved, it was the librarians.  I don’t think I’ve ever met a rude librarian.  They’re unfailingly pleasant, patient, and helpful.   Thank heaven, they were only closed for a short time during the pandemic.  And now that they’re open, they’re doing a fantastic job of following CDC guidelines. Our library gets an A for effort from me.

Did I say they were closed?  Actually, they were sort of open.  You could order print  books online.  Then, when you got to the library, you could call inside, and they would bring the books out  to your car. Is that cool, or not?  And then, just to be safe, they “quarantined” the returned books for three days before letting anyone borrow them again.  You can still use this service if you want to.

Library Gets A for effort during this pandeimic. They are enforcing masks.
Library gets “A” for effort. They’re enforcing mask wearing & following CDC guidelines.

When the library re opened to the public,  they had removed  most  of the furniture and put  Plexiglas barriers all over the place.  No plush, comfy sofas and chairs, or wooden reading desks and chairs.  All of which meant people couldn’t spend hours in the library reading newspapers and magazines, or halfway sleeping. ( Sleeping in the library was banned a few years back).  They do have two or three small, metal tables and  chairs.  These came in handy if you need to sit a minute, which I often do, at my age.

 

Everyone is required to wear a mask, and it’s enforced.   I don’t know how these kind, gentle librarians are able to make everyone mask up, but they do.  Yesterday I saw a couple of teenagers approach the door without masks.  I figured they would get away with it.  But when I got inside, they were wearing the paper masks the library provides.  I’d loved to have seen that transaction.  If these sweet librarians can be enforcers, why can’t the people at Aldi’s and the Dollar Store do the same?  I guess it’s a matter of economics.  The stores don’t want to turn down any extra sales, whereas the library isn’t in it for the money.

Why do I go to the library instead of calling and ordering books?  The same reason I don’t have my groceries delivered.  I like to wander the aisles and see what’s there that I hadn’t thought of.   But I feel 100% safer in the library than I do in the supermarket.  There’s no loud talking from barefaced people. No one crowding behind you at the checkout. No clusters of people clogging the aisles for a chat.  The library is quiet, subdued, and safe.  Our local library gets a an A Plus for observing CDC guidelines during the pandemic.