Dear Friends,
Remember March of 2020 when our country shut down, Corona Virus and we were told we had to wear a mask, wash our hands a lot, use hand sanitizer, and socially distance six feet apart. Social activities were not a good idea as we went from Corona to COVID19 and movie theaters, restaurants, stores began closing. Businesses began to tell employees to work from home, students began home schooling, hospitals were sounding the alarm of overcrowding and staff’s being over worked as people were hospitalized with no known cure. If you had a loved one hospitalized with COVID19 they were not permitted visitors, families waved to loved ones from the parking lots. Thanksgiving dinners were cancelled; travel was out as the fear of spreading this virus worsened. Churches and Synagogues attendance fell dramatically. Reports of how many were hospitalized and how many died came at us not daily but constantly. Fear gripped us as we huddled at home to wait for a cure.
A vaccine became available and people rushed for “the cure” only to be told that a second vaccine would be necessary, followed by booster shots.
Finally as we approached the three year mark and the businesses that survived began to open; restaurants with amended hours and menus, theaters, shopping malls, schools were cautiously welcoming revitalization, hospital’s had open beds and staff was able to return to a pre virus schedule. The masks slowly came off, distancing relaxed, was the end in sight? People gathered for dinners, bar b q’s, parties, social events; weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, birthdays, baby showers, graduations, people saw a normalization returning to their lives.
Have you heard of “Long COVID”? Get ready this train hasn’t reached the station yet. This is the affect that three years of people dying, social bombardment of how many have gotten sick, how many have died, how many businesses shut down, how many are opening but cannot hire help. Sixty-five million, 1 in every five people are affected; confusion, feeling lethargic, depression, loss of taste and smell, trouble sleeping. If you are feeling any of these things and you go to your Dr. or other health provider, they cannot correctly diagnose it. What will be the next phase? I’m hoping its “So long COVID.”