I’d Rather Not

The other day, I went to get a COVID test. It was part of a government initiative to test as many people as possible. The idea was to test most of the working populace before they returned to work. There were testing locations in most major city locations, and although we did have to wait, it was orderly. Everyone stood 2 meters apart and kept their distance.

The test itself was also pretty easy. We gave the nurses our contact details, we did the test and waited only a few minutes to receive our results. Thankfully, I tested negative. Considering I’ve been self-isolating as much as possible, it would have been surprising to test otherwise.

This article was planning on going a different way. It was written in early 2021, when things were still kinda bad with COVID and all that. At the time, I was doing my part, self-isolating as much as possible, as well as constantly wearing a face mask and washing my hands. You know, the things a sensible person would do, to not get ill.

A lot of the old article was unfinished and I ended up deleting most of it. I didn’t want to sound too… I want to say “political” but I don’t think that’s the right term. At the time, all I wanted was for everyone else to wear face masks and wash their hands and not cough all over the place. This article was originally going towards avoiding getting COVID myself, highlighting my fears of becoming infected with the virus. Since then though, I have been insanely lucky. While my brother picked up COVID and was ill for a week, I miraculously managed to avoid getting infected too. Quarantining at my dad’s place while brother quarantined at home was a good idea, even if it completely and utterly drained me emotionally.

But here I am, still virus-free. I’ve been sticking to the same old rules: watching hands and wearing a mask, and it all seems to be working for me. I do not want to catch COVID in any way what so ever, in case it genuinely fucks me up. Brother said he felt like he had a cold and little else, but he has a working immune system, whereas my own immune system can’t tell the difference between bad viruses and useful insulin-making cells. I’ll reiterate, I am still COVID-free, I still haven’t had it and I want to keep things this way. I’d rather not risk getting ill in any way.

The rest of the world though seems to have a different idea. While COVID is still going on, people are kinda just… going back to normal. As if COVID is no longer around. Sure, we still need masks, and every shop has a stand with a bottle of antibacterial liquid sitting there, but most other restrictions are being loosened up. We no longer need safe passes for every shop we enter. Travel is available again, people are going out again, getting back to work or going on holiday. Everything is slowly going back to a pre-pandemic life.

Except, how? COVID cases are still soaring. Many hospitals are still overfilled. There’s still a pandemic outside. Yet people seem to not really care any more. We’re all just getting on with our lives. It turns out, the phrase “avoid it like the plague” simply isn’t true in any real way. At least, not for everyone. I guess we just have to live like this for now on.

Still, I’d rather not get COVID. I don’t want to be ill. Because, while newer strains of COVID are less severe, there’s still a damn virus going around and killing people. And I don’t want to become another fairly ignored statistic.