Remember the zombies that wouldn't die? Watch out, they're back !! : Tom McDermott

Last year many of us thought that the zombies had gone - or at least we hoped so.  

We should have known better.  Classic zombie movies should have taught us that you can never kill zombies. They just keep coming.  You can try to burn them, lob grenades at them, cut off their heads, but they always keep coming.   We even tried the 'kill the vampire' move - stake through the heart.  Nothing worked.

Such were the COVID zombies - for three years we did all the right things to ward them off. Some of us became hermits, locked ourselves up in our homes, limited our shopping, avoided gatherings and visitors.  We dutifully took the required shots and boosters and wore our masks. 

Even then, despite all our precautions, the COVID zombies caught up with many of us. Most of us survived with fairly mild symptoms.  Then we went around telling others, "Oh, it wasn't so bad." Doing so, we ignored all evidence to the contrary - the fact that some did not survive and many who survived live now with long-term symptoms.   

Yet, late last year suddenly we saw fewer zombies around .  Had they gotten tired? - or at least tired of us?   At last we started to relax.  We took off our masks, began traveling again, seeing friends, visiting relatives.  We resumed going to parties and events.  Like us, our governments relaxed their guard. They dropped the public health appeals, stopped financing vaccines and treatments, and stopped publishing scary statistics.  

Meanwhile, the zombies were still 'out there' gathering their strength and breeding new varieties.

Now, it seems that the COVID zombies are coming back again - quietly and stealthily, carrying weird new names: EG.5, FL 1.5.1, and XBB - new varieties that are even more transmissible than the older ones we knew.  Even worse, they may be even more resistant to vaccines.

No one can say whether this year will see a return of a full blown crisis, but it is possible.  Whether a crisis or not, a case of COVID is always a crisis for one person, one family.  Don't be that person or that family,

In the past month I have learned of four members of XUNICEF who have recently come down with COVID. There are likely many more.  

The COVID zombies are real and they are coming for all of us - and especially for our age group.. 

So, I appeal to you to be careful.  If you are due for an updated booster and can find one, take it.  If you can avoid crowded events, do so.  Consider using masks when shopping and when attending indoor gatherings.  

On vaccines, don't forget to look for the new updated COVID boosters, i.e. ones adapted to the new variants of the disease.  Take the opportunity also of getting your shots for flu, pneumonia, Tdap*, and shingles.  Talk to your doctor about whether an RSV shot** would be appropriate for you and members of your family.    

Oh, and watch out behind you - is that a zombie I see hiding there?  

Notes:

If you live in the US and want to follow the NY Times statistics on COVID cases and hospitalizations by the state and nationally, go to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/covid-cases.html

In the US, CDC recommends:

* Tdap - a single shot for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis is recommended for anyone age 70 and above.

**RSV - respiratory syncytial virus is recommended for infants and young children, but also for adults over age 60.  The disease is more common in older adults, as the immune system weakens with age.

COVID;  The grim statistics tell us that worldwide there have been some 590 million registered cases and 6.3 million deaths from the disease since the pandemic began.