We recently traveled to Canada to spend a winter week at our condo. The trip was primarily to check out our place and to attend an informal Condo Council meeting. We had two surprises. First, the weather was far warmer, sunnier, and drier than expected. We took several walks outside and did not need winter coats or umbrellas. We were not alone as many families took advantage of milder outdoor conditions.
Our second surprise was that one of our wooden Adirondack chairs, weighing about fifty pounds, slid out of an enclosed area on our exterior deck and flipped over. Our neighbors told us of a December storm with hurricane wind gusts and high beach waves. It amazed us that the wind moved a large, heavy chair around a protected area. Fortunately, there was no damage, and we moved the chair to its original enclosure. Since the temperature has not gone below freezing, some of our annuals still have flowers and our tulips are now poking up from the bulbs. Our plants think spring is here.
The downside to our northwest trip is that I caught a cold, the drippy nose and chest cough kind. It was not the flu as I tested; I was booster vaccinated for both Covid and influenza last October. Your body cannot know the difference between flu symptoms and head colds, so testing should be done. I felt fine and did my normal morning exercises. It was just annoying as I was not 100%. I bought over-the-counter medicines to dry my sinuses which helped me get a normal night’s sleep.
On the fourth day of our visit, I had scheduled a meeting in our condo with four members of the Condo Council. This Council operates our condo building for all the condo units. It was an informal meeting and not required. My wife asked me to inform the other Council members about my cold. I was against the idea as the other Council members might decide not to attend and we really needed to discuss several issues. I had not seen them since October and the thought of a Zoom meeting was not appealing when we all lived in the same building. However, I elected to inform the Strata Council of my head cold and all agreed to meet in-person. It was a good meeting.
I struggle with how to deal with post-Covid illnesses. I grew up in a ‘tough-it-out’ family. Both my parents worked after all their children started school. You had to be really sick to stay home from school. A head cold did not qualify. When I went to college and later worked in an office, the same rule applied. I suffered through classes and meetings with a drippy nose and the occasional coughing. The first time I took off work for a sickness was when I was diagnosed with bronchitis and a London doctor ordered me to stay home. The London Marathon was a few days away and I really wanted to run it. I wisely took the doctor’s advice.
During the pandemic, any signs of an illness would send people into isolation, whether it was really the flu or not. If someone coughed on public transportation, heads would turn in fear. Last year, we took a cruise around the UK and people were coughing during bus tours. This caused me to believe that Covid had infested our cruise ship which made me nervous. If a passenger gets Covid on a cruise ship, he or she should isolate in their room which means skipping days of fun activities which have previously been purchased.
My wife and I have different views on sicknesses. We both agree that if we test Covid or flu positive, we isolate until we don’t test positive. If we are around elderly or immune-compromised people, we isolate. The disagreements are on drippy noses and occasional coughing. My wife steers towards caution and I steer towards normal behavior if I feel ok. She discloses her health to everyone before seeing them and I tend to keep my cold to myself.
Post-pandemic and with the abundance of video links, the trend is for people to stay home when sick, even for minor illnesses. Working from home is more acceptable today than during my career; there was little work I could do if I stayed home, but now computer connectivity makes it far easier to be semi-productive during sicknesses. The isolation limits the risks of spreading germs and should give the sick worker more rest than within an office environment. A sick employee at home can take a nap or just relax when their energy level goes down.
I need to be more aware of my communal relationships. My need for efficiency and productivity should lean towards not harming the surrounding community. My first thought should be to recover from my sickness, especially as I age. The next thought should be to protect those around me from my germs by hand washing, masking when in community, and isolation.
There wasn’t modern medicine when Scripture was written, but there was the commandment to love your neighbor. (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39) Loving your neighbor includes doing your best not to spread harmful germs. This is not an exact science; rather, there are grey areas and appropriate reasoning to take into consideration. However, I should lean towards a more conservative approach and quickly assess my communal behaviors. I have much more flexibility as I age and should error on caution. The additional rest would be physically good, my conscious would be at ease, and my theological beliefs would be put into practice.