When I last considered this subject, I was trying to decide how to reenter society once the pandemic ends and the COVID threat becomes more manageable. I had several decisions to make. When and where do I wear a mask? When do I start face-to-face meetings at Weber Nooners? What about Zoom meetings? Do I return to other normal activities such as church, shopping, visiting friends & relatives?

Now that most of the restrictions have been lifted, I am returning to normal. As much as normal exist today.

I wear a mask when out in public. I go to 3 or 4 Weber Nooner meetings a week. I still do at least one Zoom meeting weekly. But I still don’t go to church. Too risky! Too many people are not taking precautions. I would like to visit relatives, or travel but I am still not ready to drive very far, and airline travel is still too risky. I don’t want to get stuck in an airport.

Despite all my precautions I still caught COVID. Thanks to full vaccination and two boosters, I got only a mild case. I have had colds that were worse than this. But l still I was miserable for about a day and a half with a bad cough and running nose. A COVID test confirmed that I had it.

I continued to test positive after all symptoms had ended and CDC guidelines said I was no longer contagious. My doctor told me to quit testing – that some people continue to test positive several days after they are no longer contagious. Nevertheless, I continued wear a mask and use caution around other people. I finally got a negative test about 20 days after being exposed.

It’s now the middle of July and about a month since my exposure to COVID. I still have an occasional coughing spell. It may be a residual of the COVID experience. Or it might be one of the side effects from my blood pressure medicine. I have had a dry throat since I started the BP medicine years ago. Yesterday a friend asked me to drive her to the doctor. She has an ankle injury and can’t drive. I don’t think I have any symptoms but out of caution I tested. It was negative. Better safe than sorry, I would hate to spread the disease.

Today I went to my favorite Weber Nooners meeting. Saturday at 10am. I was the only one a wearing mask. That’s normal. No one else seems too concerned that a new COVID variation is running rampant through Nueces county. I was ok with this until about 10 minutes into the meeting about a half dozen people came in filling in the empty space between chairs. No more social distance. I decided there were too many people that I didn’t know so I gave my chair to a lady sitting on the floor and left. I am not back to normal yet.

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