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It seemed inevitable that COVID-19 would strike our house since I work in a public position where communicating with other humans in person is often essential, but social distancing, washing my hands often and even occasionally wearing a mask worked well for two years. It was my daughter’s job at a Blue Ridge, Ga., restaurant that finally gave the coronavirus a chance to venture where it doesn’t belong.
We were doing well through the weekend, burning through our stock of rapid home tests. Alas, despite our best efforts at keeping our girl barricaded with her germs in a guest room, something finally snuck out for my wife to test positive Monday morning. I tested negative for COVID on Sunday morning and thought we were in the clear, but no such luck for my better half, who has been doing an admirable job as nurse and babysitter over the last week.
As a result, we’ll be in quarantine until the test results turn negative. Thankfully, I have a computer in my office at the house and can handle a fair amount of work from here, but it’s not the same.
Unfortunately, another family in the Cherokee Scout’s office also has COVID at home, a different associate was taken to the hospital last week for non-COVID reasons and yet one more called in sick Monday. Since we’re a small office, we decided to close the doors to the public Monday, get this week’s newspaper done and figure it out from there. Thanks for bearing with us during this time.
The Scout’s experience is nothing new, of course; due to the pandemic, virtually every business in Cherokee County has had to deal with a myriad of challenges they likely never imagined when they first opened. I salute the business owners and managers who work overtime, and beyond, whenever they don’t have enough employees to get the job done during this unprecedented time.
The primary thing I have learned over the last week is we were right to trust our doctors. My wife and I had both Moderna vaccination shots, as well as a booster, courtesy of the Cherokee County Health Department, which took care of us quickly, efficiently and at no charge. On the other hand, my daughter only had the first Moderna shot before always finding an excuse to not go back for round two.
As a result, my wife and I have had mild symptoms. Meanwhile, my daughter has been in absolute misery. I shudder to think how she would feel if she didn’t at least have the first shot.
Because I believe freedom is America’s greatest virtue, I didn’t agree with the business shutdowns in 2020, and I don’t support the government’s vaccine mandates that came about in 2021. I recognize that many people have genuine concerns about taking medications without a lengthy history to study, and I would never want to put anyone on a guilt trip about it.
However, with most every new report that comes out, and as my personal experience has confirmed, the answers are getting more and more clear – we have much more to fear from COVID-19 itself than with any of the vaccines created to help subdue he pandemic.
There once was a time when most everyone accepted the word of their doctor, who spent a dozen years in universities and internships before opening their own practice and becoming experts in their chosen medical field. Googling does not change that; anyone who thinks whatever a search engine happens to pull up is equivalent to a lifetime of education and experience isn’t thinking clearly at all.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on Twitter @daviddBstroh.