Yesterday, I did something I haven’t done in more than two years. Something I said I’d never do again. Something I’m not proud of. Something I should probably bring up with my therapist, or in confession.
I shook somebody’s hand.
It was instinctive, not deliberate. No thought process, no intentional decision. The moment simply presented itself, and I responded out of primal habit, like in the pre-pandemic olden days when we did such things obliviously. And now I feel so reckless and dirty.
Same with mask wearing. I’ve made proclamations about that as well, maintaining that many of the infection control practices that have virtually eradicated the flu during the pandemic should continue in our personal lives. But where masks aren’t required in my state, I reluctantly admit that I’ve joined the crowd, thrown caution to the wind, and haven’t consistently been wearing one. And no surprise, as restrictions relax and most others behave similarly, flu cases are again on the rise.
For most of you working every day in long-term care facilities (which I don’t), you still don’t get to fully experience this sudden rush of intoxicating freedom. But for the rest of us, there are important decisions to be made, and it really shouldn’t take a mandate from a government entity to do the right thing even when it’s not required.
On a recent work-related trip to Las Vegas, I saw more casino jackpot winners than masks, which is to say about two. How could people exhibit such cavalier behavior, I pondered quietly and sarcastically, in a city so known for encouraging positive choices? But that appears to be where we are generally as a society as well. We’re all a bit too eager to recapture the innocence of 2019 B.C. (Before COVID) by flaunting our mask-free faces and shaking grimy hands while gliding through a fog of denial.
Regardless, it is what it is. So maybe we need to take a step back, accept the reality of an emotionally exhausted human race that doesn’t much want to fight deadly viruses anymore, and somehow find a workable middle ground. Not because the government says we have to, but because with everything else we’ve been going through, hasn’t it been a great relief to be generally flu-free the past couple years? And wouldn’t we like that trend to continue?
Obviously, there are many effective ways to get there without provoking riots in the streets. One reasonable choice to help preserve our diminished flu and cold status is to simply stay home when we’re sick. Remember how, as COVID ramped up, a single cough in the workplace would send your colleagues scurrying for cover like Cold War kids cowering under desks? Now two years later, working while ill is generally no longer seen as an act of heroism or self-sacrifice, and I think we should choose to actively preserve that stigma. If you don’t feel well, please go home and stay there. We don’t want whatever you have.
We could also find a sensible middle ground on masks, and be willing to keep wearing them in crowded indoor spaces, especially during flu season. That means a little discomfort when I attend the symphony, for instance, but would be worth it both to protect ourselves and for the greater good. We could also embrace the wisdom of masking up for a few days whenever we’ve been in contact with someone who’s sick, whether it’s COVID or not.
There are lots of other ways we could act in our own self-interest by rationally preserving some of what we’ve learned during the pandemic. We don’t need to lock the country down, deadbolt the doors, wash our hands with industrial-strength cleansers or wear triple layers of N95s with welding goggles. We just need to set any philosophical agenda aside and keep taking care of each other in easy ways that still make sense.
Even as restrictions disappear, that’s a commitment we should each choose to make — but hopefully without shaking hands on it.
Things I Think is written by Gary Tetz, a two-time national Silver Medalist and three-time regional Gold and Silver Medal winner in the Association of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) awards program, as well as an Award of Excellence honoree in the APEX Awards. He’s been amusing, inspiring, informing and sometimes befuddling long-term care readers worldwide since the end of a previous century. He is a writer and video producer for Consonus Healthcare Services in Portland, OR.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
