COVID-19 has become a political albatross. No one any longer wants to take responsibility for the ramifications of attempting to control a continuing public health threat.
It seems that as long as we don’t discuss it, see ourselves or others wearing masks, and otherwise act as though COVID doesn’t exist, we feel safe in our cocoons.
Even President Joe Biden recently signed a resolution putting to an end the national emergency, declared by former President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020. This legislation was passed in the Republican House and passed in the Senate with help from 11 Democrats.
It is evident that politicians of both parties are eager to get on with life by ignoring the virus and its health risks. And so federal funding for COVID-related diagnostic tests and vaccines is being reduced. This means that the COVID pandemic is now just a historical marker.
No one wants to disrupt life to protect populations from just another easily spread virus. Soon the president’s pandemic response team will be disbanded. Dr. Anthony Fauci is retired.
All this is positive. Except that the pandemic isn’t really over. More than 120,000 Americans are contracting COVID each week. More than 1,700 American deaths each week are directly attributable to the disease.
We can jump for joy that the pandemic has been pronounced over by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And no one, including the CDC, feels compelled to talk about the sick and dying.
Another way of saying this is that COVID now joins a silent list of extremely serious and dangerous diseases including HIV, influenza, hepatitis and respiratory syncytial virus. The reduction in support to those devastated by COVID has fueled the political winds to move away from ongoing financial assistance.
Of course, while those unaffected move on with their lives, there are literally millions of Americans who continue to suffer from debilitating symptoms known as long COVID. And there is a growing number of people who attract the virus only to join the ranks of those suffering from life-threatening and little understood symptoms.
So what is long COVID? And what should you do to protect yourself from joining the ranks of those suffering from it?
It is true that of the people who become infected with the COVID virus, 80% recover. The remainder suffer from long COVID, or they die.
Long COVID can include one or more symptoms of extreme fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, smell and taste deficiencies, shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations, dizziness, depression, anxiety, headache, muscle and joint pain, cough, and difficulty with concentration. These symptoms can be disabling, preventing one from working or even going about their normal activities. In fact, long COVID might be considered as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Now comes the onslaught of new COVID variants, more contagious, more dangerous and more deadly. Before these variants, 106.5 million cases were reported within the United States alone, 1.2 million deaths, and more than 21 million continuing their suffering from long COVID.
Even with masks, tests, treatments, vaccines and common sense — all of which aid in preventing the spread of COVID — many of us prefer to ignore the possibility of attracting the disease and its potential dire consequences. Many have the attitude that of the 2% of Americans who contract COVID each year, why would they be one of them?
Republicans are budget conscious and don’t want to hamper business and educational interests. Democrats are in the same boat and don’t want to be labeled as the party of big government. It is so much easier for everyone to satisfy voters with laissez-faire policies.
As we look back at that the time the pandemic approached and roared across the country, we need to remember that then-President Trump said his administration was saving so many lives as compared to what it could have been. He went further and projected the total number of Americans who would die from COVID infections as substantially below 100,000. He missed the mark as more than a million have already died and more than 21 million are suffering with long COVID.
What we need to do is to remain cognizant of this deadly disease, keep vaccinations and boosters up to date, wear masks particularly in crowds and indoor gatherings with strangers, wash hands, and just protect ourselves.
An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.
Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Dickinson College graduate, Pennsylvania System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Governor, Shippensburg University Trustee, and Chairman of eLynxx Solutions. The firm provides enterprise-level cloud-software for communicating, specifying, approving, procuring, producing, reporting and activities necessary to obtaining direct mail, packaging, promo, marketing and all other printing. He is a board member, campaign advisor, successful entrepreneur, published author and commentator. He can be reached at [email protected].
