I saw a post on LinkedIn a week or so ago from (I think) an American tech entrepreneur. I can’t remember all the details, but it was basically decrying the Work At Home stuff that gained huge traction during the Pandemic (and quite right too) and coming out with the usual nonsense about team building, knowledge exchange and all the other stuff that goes with a business being easier in an office environment, and insisting that everyone should be back in the office fulll time. This of course ignored the fact that all of that stuff carried on quite happily remotely in the majority of cases, and has brought the added benefits of quality-of-life improvements for pretty much everybody – and all that has continued, as far as I can work out, in the hybrid work environment where employees split their time between the office and WAH. But I do remember the opening: “Now that Covid has gone….”

What nonsense! I responded to that immediately, and pointed out that Covid has NOT gone anywhere, it’s still there, mutating merrily, and infecting people world wide with its variants, sosme of which are worse than others (including the original bastard), and that suggesting otherwise was both ignorant and irresponsible. A couple of people gave my Comment a Like, but generally it was ignored in the conversation that followed.

But I’m afraid I was absolutely spot on, and I will accept no argument about it. My wife’s boss had a light infection of it (coincidentally the week I saw and replied to the LinkedIn nonsense) and yesterday, after spending a day coughing and spluttering, running hot and cold fevers, I bought my wife a dual test for both Covid and flu. Our worst fears were confirmed – she is now isolating in our bedroom with Covid, and I have returned to sleeping on the settee.

To be honest, I know she will be ok: she is strong and taking the appropriate medication from the Pandemic days and resting, so I expect it to be clear by this time next week. But I am still very worried for my own sake…. You see, I caught the virus twice within a few months, back in those dark days, and the second time came very close to hospitalisation – and I’m not sure I would have survived that. For three days I was comatose at home: I remember a medic in full hazmat gear coming and testing me, having a long conversation with my life as I dozed off – and woke up three days later, feeling weak as a baby. It was nearly another month before I was up and around again. It left me with Long Covid symptoms that I still struggle with (which is why I neither read nor write as much, am plagued by memory and concentration problems and suffer from poor sleep patterns) that led to a year’s chronic depression that, again, rears its ugly head from time to time. I do not want to go through all that again….so I’ve just taken some (hopefully preventative) medication myself. And my fingers are firmly crossed.

The takeway: no matter what anybody says to the contrary, whether it’s some guy in the pub, that fat Orange Oaf who wants to be POTUS or some brain-dead conspiracy theorist on Facebeook, anybody – they talking bullshit (and always heve been). Covid is real, and remains a clear and present danger to us all. Its mutations may have weakened it somewhat, but its still out there, and – to judge from what I’ve seen the past 24 hours or so – just as dengerous and unpleasant as it always was. It will always be there in the background, the same as flu or the measles or the common cold, and our bodies are still not fully resistant to it. I’m not sure they ever will be. Be on your guard. If it’s still available to you, get your annual vaccination as you (possibly) would for the flu – especially if you’re in a high-risk group (an old duffer like me, 70 plus with a history of infections, say, or someone suffering from a long term disability or illness).

Take care, all, and stay safe!