No Vacation for COVID, by Rich Paschall

Many, or should I say most of us, have come to believe that the Coronavirus pandemic is over. You can see it just about everywhere. Few people wear masks in public, even in crowded stores. A couple months ago I was at the packed United Center in Chicago for the Lionel Ritchie concert. I don’t recall seeing anyone wearing a mask. Prior to being let into the arena, we pushed our way through the throng to get in line at the adult beverage stand. It was as if it was 2019 and there had been no pandemic.

While the pandemic has died down significantly from its height in 2021, it has not in fact died out. Cases continue to be reported, and in some areas of the country, they are on the rise. A new variant of the disease is infecting people. Another booster shot has been rolled out by the pharmaceutical industry and another may follow that. We have not seen the end of hospitalizations and deaths.

“We’re living in a bit of a fantasy world where we’re pretending Covid is not relevant. There is a lot of COVID out there and we’re not testing for it and we’re not telling people to get tested.” – Dr. Deborah Brix, Coronavirus response coordinator for the Trump administration

With over 1.1 million deaths in the US alone and well over 103 million confirmed COVID-19 US cases, you would think we would be taking the matter much more seriously than we are. On October 13, according to the New York Times COVID data, the daily COVID hospital admission in the Chicago metro area was .43 per 100,000, and deaths the week of Sept 24th through 30th was .06 per 100,000. That may sound like nothing, but if you consider the population of the metro area to be 8,937,000, then the numbers are nothing to sneeze at, as the saying goes, especially if you have COVID-19.

Moderna vaccine – Photo: Christopher Dolan/The Times-Tribune via AP, File)

Doctor Brix has warned that we should be preparing a booster shot for the BA.2.86 variant that has already been seen in small numbers in the US. Scientists in China (YES, those guys) have found the new variant to have a large number of mutations which is quite concerning.

Older Americans should be very concerned. Two studies in “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” (yes, there is such a report) highlight the issue. One report shows 63 percent of COVID hospitalizations are by older Americans (65 and older) and 90 percent of COVID deaths are in the same age group

With a complete understanding that COVID-19 is not gone, I nevertheless proceeded to act like a tourist at home and set off for crowded places sans masks. Visitors from France were on vacation and eager to see the sites of a world-class city. I was more than happy to take them around.

Chicago Water Tower (Photo credit: Nicholas G. Mertens)

On our first full day, we headed to Lincoln Park Zoo. Usually, you would spend most of your time outside, but we were greeted with cool weather and light rain. This sent us into the various animal houses along with crowds of people. Buses filled with people had arrived so the popular spot near Chicago’s lakefront was rather crowded without all of us being forced indoors. I noted the lions were smart and stayed outside rather than retreat to their inside spots. Did they know something we didn’t?

From there we drove to the DePaul neighborhood so we could catch the Red Line train downtown. The Red Line starts as an Elevated (L) train but soon goes underground to be the subway through downtown. It is generally crowded, especially during the day. We got off at Chicago Avenue so we could head over to Michigan Avenue to see the Water Tower and the Hancock Building. When it got cool and wet again we stopped at a shop for donuts and coffee. More crowds! We ended the day at a local restaurant.

Since I was unsuccessful at getting a parking permit at Northwestern for the football game the following day, we took the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Brown Line to the Red Line to the Purple Line to Evanston. All were crowded. When we exited the train we followed the crowd to the stadium. It was an outdoor event so you might think it would not be a spot to catch Covid, but we sat at the 50-yard line about halfway up. Of course, that is where everyone likes to be able to sit. After taking the various trains back, we had dinner at a popular and crowded restaurant. In fact, we had to wait 15 minutes for a table and spent our time at the bar.

On Sunday it was brunch at a sports bar for the beginning of multiple football games on the multitude of television sets. That was followed by a trip to the Fashion Outlet in Rosemont. That mall always draws a crowd. I had to stand in line at the Gap Outlet along with a lot of other people who felt they had a good bargain.

On Monday I did not go around with my visitors because I did not feel well. On Tuesday night I had a fever of 103. By Wednesday morning I had earned a ride in the City of Chicago’s large emergency ambulance to a local hospital. My friend had called 911. What was the problem? Covid-19.

I may have seen a dozen people wearing a mask out of the tens of thousands we had passed in the three days I went around town. I missed more than half of my friends’ visits.

This is a cautionary tale. Covid-19 is not over by a long shot. I set out to go to crowded places and do things I had not done in years. I was not careful and I paid the price. Luckily I am here to tell you about it. The hospital gave me Paxlovid, the Coronavirus treatment.

We must return to being cautious so that we are not prematurely adding to the numbers of the “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.”

SOURCES include: “Track Coronavirus Cases in Places Important to You,” New York Times, nytimes.com, updated on October 13, 2023.
“WHO Health Emergency Dashboard,” World Health Organization, covid19.who.int/region/amro/country/us, October 12, 2023.
“Covid hospitalizations spike with new variant as school returns, U.S. readies vaccines“, by Spencer Kimball, CNBC Health and Science, cnbc.org September 6, 2023.
“Older adults made up 90% of US COVID deaths in 2023,” by Mary Van Beusekom, MS, University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19, October 5, 2023.

Categories: Friendship, Medical, Rich Paschall, Vacation

Tags: booster shots, coronavirus, Covid 19, crowds, masks, pandemic, tourists, vacation, vaccine