President Biden has Covid-19. I Still Don't.

[canyonwalker]

It's in the news today that President Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid-19.

"It's About Time," read one news headline.

WAIT, WHAT?!

The article explained that even for President Biden, who is fully vaccinated and twice boosted (and, I would add, receives a level of medical care that surpasses practically anyone else in the US), it was still just a matter of "When, not if" he'd get Covid-19.

Sadly, that's where we are with Covid-19 today. It's when you get it, not if you get it.

Well, I haven't gotten Covid-19 yet. I know the chances are high I will sometime, even though like President Biden I am fully vaccinated and twice boosted. Though I don't have to travel as frequently as he does or meet as many people f2f as he does. ...Then again, I don't have a whole phalanx of security around me to screen who gets close to me. (I wonder, does the Biden White House do rapid-test parties every day like the Trump White House did in 2020?)

Anyway, President Biden seems to be doing reasonably well so far. After testing positive he started taking Paxlovid. He's got mild symptoms and is working remotely from the White House. At 79 years old, though, he's at higher risk of trouble than a lot of the rest of us. Best wishes on a speedy recovery!

Comments

[sorcyress]

Ugh, I hate the "when not if" attitude. It feels...so oogy, just like the culmination of hundreds of policy failures the whole way down. "we could've done something about this if we'd ever bothered to take it seriously, but we haven't, so sucks to be y'all".

Looks like another school year of wearing my mask full time, and we'll see how many months I can go before they try to tell me I can't. :/

~Sor

[canyonwalker]

Wow, I just revisited this blog from months ago and saw that I never responded to your comment. I take the viewpoint of "When, not if" because I consider it true, not because I like it. In fact I hate it. I hate that it's true because it is— as you said— the culmination of hundreds of policy failures all the way down. But it is realistic.

Believing "When, not if" doesn't mean I'm giving up. I will continue to wear a mask where feasible and take other precautions, including reducing my time in risky environments. I will continue to get periodic Covid boosters, even as it seems we're going to settle into a yearly booster pattern a la the flu vaccine.

There's an element of the uncontrollable, though. Despite these efforts I figure there's going be sometime when I'm in a place with a sick person and my mask and vaccine fortified immune system aren't enough. And that is when, not if, I will be sick.