![]() I stared at her blankly and asked, “Where is Colin? I just don’t know where Colin is.” Colin, my oldest son, was on a trip with friends to celebrate high school graduation. Then when I came inside, I wasn’t myself. While I was lost in time, this is what my wife had seen: She was surprised how long I stayed outside. I had seen my father have a stroke and taken him to the hospital myself. You may have had a stroke.” I agreed immediately. She put her other hand on my chest and said calmly, but firmly: “I’m going to take you the hospital right now. She had her cell phone in one hand as if someone was still on the line. My wife walked into the room with an alarmed expression on her face. It was that chilling feeling you get the moment you realize you’re lost in the forest or desert. It was like waking up to find my boat had drifted out to sea, beyond sight of land. I could never have foreseen what happened next: I found myself back in the house in my bedroom with absolutely no memory of how I got there. And, of course, I wasn’t drinking enough water. So with the heat of the day (high nineties) just starting to ease, I continued to work through my pent-up energy with comic vigor: pulling weeds, sweeping the backyard deck, tossing balls for our dog and trying to do as many push-ups as I could (I did 80 in 20-push-up sets). Over the last year, staying in motion (especially outside) has helped me cope with the anxieties we have all experienced. Last Friday evening, I returned home from a three-mile hike and still wanted to stay active outside. In a personal way, this past week brought home to me both these harsh and hopeful perspectives on the long-tail impact of COVID-19. Think for a moment about the scope of such losses on the quality of a human life. ![]() Then there is the plight of COVID-19 long haulers, suffering ongoing chronic respiratory failure, chronic fatigue, and the loss of taste and smell. There has also been a sharp decline in elective procedures like mammograms or colonoscopies with obvious consequences. The result is more advanced disease to treat, permanent damage to heart tissue and neurological function. The effective management of chronic illness has waned. Many people have not been getting treated for strokes and heart attacks. Take tuberculosis, which will likely grow in the pandemic aftermath due to a 23 percent drop in testing and diagnosis. On the other hand, many serious illnesses have gone untreated during the pandemic crisis. In recent weeks, we celebrated birthdays and holidays in person with my wife’s family and we all visited my mother, who we had protected very cautiously due to immune system issues, in her own home for the first time in eight months. Each student had their moment of glory displayed on a huge screen above the scoreboard. My oldest son celebrated high school graduation at a crowded outdoor soccer stadium. They went back to in-person school for the last two months of the year. Both of my sons went to prom this spring. Even our teenagers’ vaccine immunity is now at full strength. The mRNA vaccine technology underpinning some COVID-19 vaccines is being used to develop other vaccines and medical treatments. The development speed, effectiveness and broad distribution of vaccines is nothing short of miraculous. ![]() We’ve all learned some hard lessons from COVID-19, but it will be years before we begin to understand the full impact of COVID-19, both positive and negative. A personal perspective on the long-tail impact of COVID-19
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