Coronavirus making the rounds again in 2024

When I get the Coronavirus, I think of my closest encounter with death.

It was back when I was about 13 or so in the seventh grade.

I was dashing across a side street that intersected with one of the hometown’s main drags.

Suddenly a car made a rocketing turn off the main drag right in front of me, maybe only a foot away.

“WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING DUMB KID,” the driver yelled.

Well, he didn’t say “dumb kid” but that’ll have to do for a family newspaper.

On the other side of the street I stood for a bit, thinking about that close call.

That’s how I feel when I realize some viral bug I’ve had turns out to be the Coronavirus. It’s a close call.

My hat is off in respect to those who lost their lives because of that virus.

I didn’t lose any kin to the thing. A family friend got it and she died in 2020.

The only way I know me and The Lady of The House had the thing over a week ago is because I lost my sense of smell and taste.

I had thought it was some summer bug.

Then I lost my sense of smell and taste.

Coronavirus seemed so 2020.

I don’t know how many times me and The Lady of the House have had The Rona. Three, maybe four times each.

She tells me she believes we’ve caught it annually.

Each time it manifests itself differently, like that time it used my innards as a playground.

The earliest was February 2020, the month before the pandemic was declared. The Lady of the House had a cough that just wouldn’t quit and I had some kind of energy draining funk.

We got our vaccines later that year and we figured we were “good to go.”

One Thursday in October 2021 we got something that started with a weird headache for me and lots of coughing for The Lady of the House.

By Sunday the thing was going away and by Monday I was ready to go see The Medicine Woman for renewals for some regular meds I take.

After an exam, Medicine Woman said, “So have you had any problems with anything else?”

“We had some kind of bug starting Thursday but it was basically gone by yesterday. Is there something going around?” I asked.

The Medicine Woman looked at me incredulously.

“Coronavirus,” she said.

“Oh, still?” I said.

“You want a test?” she asked.

I got one

The Medicine Woman’s assistant returned wearing a mask. She hadn’t worn one before.

“It’s positive,” she said.

“Oh,” I said.

We were handed masks, which we promptly put on.

Now here we are in 2024 and The Rona’s returned.

We figured we caught it when we went shopping; we really don’t go out that often.

With no smell or taste I pondered if maybe now would be a good time to try caviar.

Then I thought better of it.

It’s a texture thing.

So The Rona is here on the planet, part of the biosphere.

I don’t like it.

Kind of like that car rocketing by me when I was 13.

Grant McGee writes for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him:

[email protected]