I’m currently under numerous deadlines and also trying to sort out the medical thing, so newer pieces will be a bit, ah, sparse for a few weeks and perhaps all of summer. I’m going to sneak in some short works here and there.
This, on COVID, is one of them. I originally posted it on Facebook and decided to turn it into a short essay here so that it can be shared more widely and efficiently.
I think that a lot— a LOT—of people who’ve had COVID are also currently suffering from various brain-fog issues and may not be aware of it. In the past many months, I’ve experienced several frustrating interactions with friends, comrades, and people in various establishments that have just been very strange. I’ve had text exchanges where people have literally not understood or grasped that they sent messages, where people have sent me multiple queries and kept forgetting that I responded, phone conversations with establishments where people have actually walked away from the phone, come back, and clearly forgotten what they were saying, or what they were supposed to do, interactions with people behind counters who float between tasks and are clearly unable to figure out what they’re doing (after months of having been on the same job), and so on. I could go on.
If you’ve had COVID, you may or may not also be suffering from Long Covid but you are more than likely experiencing some kind of downturn in your mental abilities. It’s not that you are less smart, but that things are just foggier and less clear. First, please take any possible steps (masking, distancing, air filters) to prevent re-infection because, no, you don’t get immunity by infection. Second, and this is not based on any hard science that I can cite, I happen to think the brain, like the body, is weirdly capable of repair and you can do things to exercise it. I always encourage people to do jigsaw puzzles, but I know there are others things you can try out. If you’re someone who has to be on unrelated meds, make sure you’ve got a system that ensures you’re taking them at all the right times, etc. Try to act like your own private nurse, even if it means post-its everywhere. Take precautions. I mask in the elevator and places like the grocery store, and I don’t attend parties and gatherings or eat inside restaurants. I realise this is not for everyone, especially if you have to work in an office or a similar environment but, at the very least, stay masked.
Too many people are experiencing the symptoms of COVID infection and complaining about what they think the issues are: stress, humidity, migraines, ADHD, and so on. It’s more than likely COVID—the changes I see in many people are too weird and sudden to be explained away as anything else. And, to be blunt, I think too many people are taking comfort in every other diagnosis.
It doesn’t help that so many in the medical field, at least in the U.S, are still in denial about COVID and its long-term effects. This kind of systemic breakdown, where the population at large is lulled into a false sense of safety or inevitability, does not have to be permanent: the problem bigger than initial infections is that society wants everyone to “get back to normal” and to believe that they are just fine. But we’re not, and if we had a sound healthcare system, people would need to check back in regularly and keep getting tested for any continuing signs of impairment. And there would be lots of money funnelled towards ensuring ongoing treatment, and a cure.
Instead, what we have is one set of rules for the elites and nothing for the rest. The World Economic Forum takes the best precautions, the kind that attending world leaders can’t be bothered to institute in their home countries. As Forbes reported, “inside the Annual Meeting’s venues, areas will be cleaned, disinfected and ventilated several times a day.” And, “additional state-of-the-art ventilation systems have been installed in areas with restricted air circulation.” All of this can easily be provided to us proles: what we need is a “Davos for all,” to echo calls on social media. The Swiss Cheese model remains our best chance.
Instead, we’re seeing an attrition in even the most common and simplest of precautions, like masking. The medical field is gradually being depleted of actual bodies, in terms of doctors and staff and, shockingly, no one wants to even admit that they might also be contracting COVID. Reports, like this one, address the staffing shortage but not the possibility that people are either becoming ill or don’t want to be around great numbers of sick people. In my own case: I need to get a mammogram (enough discomfort to warrant an exam, but I’m not in excruciating pain and show no other symptoms so far) but I have to research places to make sure they will follow masking protocols (I also have deadlines, another story). I was finally, recently, able to afford a portable HEPA filter, and I’m hoping that will help—but the last thing I want is to go in for a routine exam and come out with COVID. States like New York are seriously considering outlawing public masks—which is like forcing people to drink tap water after letting them know that the water is poisoned. (Ah, wait, yes, Flint, and numerous other Black-majority neighbourhoods everywhere still don’t have safe water to drink).
I remain convinced that we can reverse this persistent tide of COVID but it will require a systemic, rigorous, and thoughtful approach in a world where profits matter more than people. I fear that things will only start to change when elites discover that there is no one to staff the stores or mow their lawns. Media propaganda and people’s desire to believe that things are back to normal make everything worse. A recent New York Times article on party protocols drew much controversy on social media because a couple of the people interviewed scoffed at the idea of asking guests to remove their shoes. As I read it and the ensuing Twitter kerfuffle (look, I’m never calling it X), I wondered if I was the only one who thought that the single weirdest element in the story was not the problem with shoes off or on but that so many people are partying in crowded spaces without masks. Too many people have convinced themselves that COVID is an inevitability, that they should succumb, and that they will rebound quickly. But, every day, we learn more about the persistence of the virus. Remember when we were once assured that children were immune? It now turns out that they, too, can suffer from Long COVID.
COVID is not an inevitability. The only thing that’s inevitable is the state’s contempt for us.
We can, we will, we should get through this. In the meantime, as we struggle to change attitudes and policies: Take care of yourself.
Don’t plagiarise any of this, in any way. I have used legal resources to punish and prevent plagiarism, and I am ruthless and persistent. I make a point of citing people and publications all the time: it’s not that hard to mention me in your work, and to refuse to do so and simply assimilate my work is plagiarism. You don’t have to agree with me to cite me properly; be an ethical grownup, and don’t make excuses for your plagiarism. Read and memorise “On Plagiarism.” There’s more forthcoming, as I point out in “The Plagiarism Papers.” If you’d like to support me, please donate and/or subscribe, or get me something from my wish list. Thank you.