After eight months in to this pandemic it can get pretty weary reading yet another post on the subject. However, recently three members of my household family tested positive for COVID-19 so it literally is hitting pretty close to home. My family members are just fine, thank the Lord, as are most people who contract the novel coronavirus. But the effects of quarantining and isolation are very disrupting, inconvenient, and even depressing. So, I ask you, how seriously should we be taking COVID-19?
Many people in our local community don't seem to take wearing a mask or social distancing very seriously. And why should they? It isn't going to affect them most likely. But every time we get together with someone outside our household family we run the risk of spreading COVID-19 and as a result impacting people's lives in a negative way. Yeah they might get a little sick. A small percentage of them may get very sick or even die. My experience has been that having to isolate has been the biggest disrupter to our family.
Those who tested positive in my house needed to quarantine for ten days after they were done showing symptoms of being sick in order to do the responsible thing. But then the other two in my family (one of those being me) had to quarantine for an additional fourteen days after they were done with their isolation period. That hit me pretty hard at first. I even got a little depressed for a day, knowing that I, who tested negative would have to be a prisoner in my own home for two more weeks than them. It also can have major financial impacts on families that depend on being able to get out of the house in order to work. Thankfully, I can do most of my work from home.
The teens that live with us may not understand taking COVID seriously. Heck, we may not even take it seriously. After all, people are not falling down dead all around us like was being portrayed to us early on in the pandemic. Yes, people have died and people have been very sick. These and other less serious effects of COVID-19 should give us time to pause and think about others that are affected.
Paul said:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.
~Philippians 2:3
And when he was addressing the church in Corinth about eating meat sacrificed to idols some people were just fine eating the meat. Others were conscience-stricken. To them, he said:
'I have the right to do anything,' you say - but not everything is beneficial. 'I have the right to do anything' - but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.
~1 Corinthians 10:23,24
I think I can take the liberty to apply this to our current situation. Some people are just fine socializing as normal. Others are not. Everyone, no matter what they think of the pandemic, ought to be thinking of their brother or sister who just may think differently than they do about the whole thing - and could be negatively affected by it as well. So, take it from someone whose family has been negatively affected by COVID-19: wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep your social circles smaller for now.
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