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And Now, Time for Round Two of COVID

— Yes, I've got it again! But is it possible that COVID will someday be part of normal life?

Ƶ MedicalToday
A photo of a man wrapped in a blanket putting a pulse oximeter on his index finger.

Here we go again -- COVID-19, round two for me.

For those who have read my column for a long time, you will recall that I had a pretty bad bout of COVID-19 in the first wave, back in March 2020.

Through the past almost 2.5 years, as we've dealt with this terrifying pandemic, as well as so many other challenges in our healthcare system, I've been able to safely avoid catching COVID-19 again. In addition, I have received my amazing COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, thanks to science. But as the world has changed and people have gotten tired of being so strict with masking and other interventions to stay safe, it has felt like only a matter time before everybody gets it.

I've continued to wear full PPE in all of my clinical interactions with patients, and wear my mask strictly when I am on the New York City buses and subways, or enter stores in the city. But this has been a pesky and a tricky virus, and it seems to have found a home in my respiratory and nasal passages once again.

I tested negative yesterday morning, the request of some people we were going to see in a social situation. Then in the middle of the night I woke up feeling congested, with a bit of a cough. We know that means probably not from an exposure this weekend, but something I picked up earlier in the week.

Looking back, I didn't even see any patients with active symptoms or recent COVID-19 during my practice sessions this week. While lots of patients, providers, and staff at our practice have reported getting COVID-19 in the past few weeks, no one was really sick that I know of, nor did I spend time with them unmasked.

Anyway, by the time I woke up this morning I was feeling pretty lousy, aching, with a deep burning in my chest, lots of congestion, and severe body aches. Through the course of today I have had drenching sweats and terrible chills, but still no fever, and my oxygen saturation seems to be holding steady at 95-97%. Not as bad as the first time, at least so far, when in the first few days I remember really high fevers, incredible pain -- like little explosions -- in all my muscles and joints, and hallucinations. Once again, thank you vaccines! But it certainly seems like a really, really bad cold, or the flu, and it has knocked me down.

As it turns out, I had a little vacation planned for this week, just a few days off to relax at home, catch up on some things, and go to the gym and think deep thoughts. But I think now I'm just going to be lying on the couch trying to read or watch TV if I can focus, and working to keep myself hydrated.

Over the past year or so, we've all heard countless stories about people who said they decided to take the risk and went to a wedding, memorial service, graduation, or bachelorette party, with everyone tested in advance -- everybody was negative, no one felt sick, and then the next morning the phone calls started as one member of the party reported they had become symptomatic and tested positive. Ah, superspreader events.

I don't think I have any great insights about healthcare to deliver this week, and maybe I'm not thinking too clearly, but perhaps some time in the next few months we might change our paradigm about this disease, start to move towards it being a more regular part of our lives.

For heavily vaccinated and boosted communities, for the most part their experience seems to be just what I'm experiencing, a bad cold or mild flu. Certainly, some are worse than others, and many people are still dying every day from COVID-19, so we cannot let our guard down fully. But the common cold was probably very much like this 10,000 years ago, spreading through communities and around the world, devastating populations, and then becoming, common. And this happened without the benefit of masks, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, Paxlovid, and supportive care in the hospital that has kept so many people alive.

Probably we're not there yet, and considering how bad I feel today, I want all the sympathy I can get. But maybe, as more and more people are vaccinated and get milder disease, this can become less of a pandemic, and possibly more of an everyday part of our lives.

Unless this is just the delirium talking. We'll just have to wait and see.