By PAUL HAMMEL
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — For months on end, I have been among the lucky ones.
Never got COVID.
I followed the advice of the health experts and the governor and kept my distance, sang “Happy Birthday” twice while washing my hands, limited my travel and wore a mask when out to shop or reporting at the Capitol.
When the vaccine came out, I was among the throngs who swept through Lincoln’s Pinnacle Bank Arena for two incredibly well-choreographed vaccination clinics.
And when the booster was recommended for us “seasoned” Nebraskans, I rolled up my sleeve for another shot last fall.
“Don’t give it to others’
My main goal was always “don’t give it to someone else.”
So when I got even a slightly sore throat or congestion, I went and got tested. More than a dozen times I drove through the free, Test Nebraska testing sites. When they went away, it meant a trip to a local drug store for a test. More recently, it was using a home test.
I did not want to be the guy who gave it to someone else, someone who really got sick, or had to go to the hospital, or heaven forbid, ended up on a ventilator or worse.
Since the pandemic arrived in Nebraska in March 2020, I’ve had a front-row seat to the pandemic, covering dozens of governor’s press conferences while masked and distanced, writing about Nebraska’s first COVID-19 patient and about small towns struggling through lockdowns and the uncertainty.
More recently, I’ve covered stories about doctors and nurses, desperately trying to save lives of those gasping for breath while dealing with the divisions in our world over using masks, taking precautions and trusting medical professionals.
After all that, I can honestly say that being cautious and taking precautions has worked for me. Neighbors got it, friends got it, relatives got it. Not me.
Until two weeks ago.
My lucky streak ended April 26 when a home test showed positive.
Where I got it is anyone’s guess.
Like a lot of people, I’ve let my guard down, put away the N-95 masks and tried to live a little in the past couple of months. Case counts were down, masking requirements were going away.
A concert and few masks
My wife and I went to an Elton John concert recently. It was sold out, and few people wore masks. There was a certain novelty, and feeling of freedom, for not masking up. And I was fine after the concert.
The week before I tested positive I covered the final days of the Legislature’s session, went to a bill signing at the Capitol Rotunda, attended a funeral visitation and drove to central Nebraska’s Calamus Lake to visit an old buddy — all without masking.
A friend had come up to our family farm nine days before I tested positive, and he told me later that he’d turned up positive just after our visit. But we were mostly outside, seemingly far enough apart.
I write this to make a couple of points. The first is that COVID-19 is still out there.
As one widely known public health expert said recently, “We may be done with it, but it isn’t done with us.”
This is a disease that has killed more than 4,200 Nebraskans. Nineteen more Nebraskans died last week. And cases, nationwide, are on the rise again, according to the New York Times. That’s also according to the health director in Lincoln, where I live.
Think of it – 4,200 dead. That’s about the population of cities like Aurora, Wahoo, Ogallala and Falls City. Pick one of those towns. Gone.
In Lincoln and Lancaster County, cases have increased in each of the past five weeks. A surge seen nationwide is showing up here, said Pat Lopez, the city-county health director, who said she’s seeing an increase in older residents who haven’t gotten their second booster shot yet.
About 1 million Americans have died since March 2020. And for the first time since World War I, the life expectancy for Americans has dropped, from 78.9 years in 2019 to 76.6 years in 2021.
Depressing facts
Those are cold, hard, depressing facts.
(And we need to consider that the number of people infected with COVID-19 is probably a major undercount. That’s because we’re all using home tests now. And I have stopped counting the people who told me they probably got COVID but never got tested. Wonder if they spread it.)
Here’s my second takeaway: I do believe that getting the shots made my symptoms manageable, and mostly mild.
Sure, the shots didn’t prevent COVID — I got it — but getting vaccinated, wearing a mask, etc., might have kept it at bay for me through months of continuing to work, continuing to shop at the grocery store and elsewhere, and doing things like ushering at church.
(One note: I did test “positive” in December 2020, but I never had any symptoms other than a scratchy nose. And a month later, two tests showed I didn’t have any antibodies. So it was a “false positive.”)
Others got it
Meanwhile, I’ve heard story after story of friends, relatives and neighbors — some vaxed, but several not — getting COVID and dealing with high fevers, the loss of taste and smell, and the lingering after-effects, like a foggy brain or lack of energy.
But my symptoms were no worse than a typical flu. I was run down for a day or two, had a slight sore throat and was a bit achy. But, except for one morning sleeping in, I continued to work from my isolation at home.
My ability to taste and smell was impacted, but for only a couple of days, and only for the blandest food.
The best news is this: besides my wife, who luckily also had mild symptoms, I didn’t spread it to the wider world.
As soon as I tested positive, I called everyone I came in contact with to let them know. I still haven’t heard from anyone beyond my wife who got it, and I am hoping that I didn’t spread it to anyone else.
Tried to do my part
From friends, relatives and neighbors, I’ve heard of much more serious fights with COVID, of real sickness, trips to the ER, the awful funerals and regrets.
I’ve tried to do my part by trying to avoid getting it and spreading it. I’ve urged others to get the shots, but in our world today, some people don’t trust what the experts are telling reporters, or what we are reporting. I get it. I don’t understand it, but I get it.
Still, when an unvaccinated buddy got a bad case, I tried to help him track down a monoclonal antibody treatment. I even made a mad dash through a blizzard to Beatrice to pick up a home test because they were all sold out in his town. He needed a test.
So now I’m among the majority of Americans who have had COVID-19. It knocked me down for a day or two, but I got over it, and hopefully I didn’t become a super spreader.
I still think I’m still among the lucky ones.