Another week has come and gone in the COVID world, and cases in the area are still on the rise. More and more people we know around us are becoming infected with the virus. Even more things are being cancelled that would have seemed to happen regardless of whether or not this was going on. Furthermore, you see less and less people out and about, yet a peculiar thing you notice is more and more obituaries in the news.
Now I do not want to say that COVID is the reason for all deaths, but there is certainly a spike of cases resulting in death recently. People known to others are dying, I finally think that some people are starting to wake up and take COVID seriously. It’s a scary shame that it has to get to that point for people to have a grasp of reality to take the preventative measures to heart to not only prevent themselves from being sick, but causing those around them to be sick as well as they could be a unsuspected carrier of the virus.
While there has been a great deal of research put into the causes of COVID, it is not yet completely pinpointed just where it starts. Yes, exposure plays a good bit of detail in it, therefore utilizing protective measures is deemed the best practice to prevent yourself from being infected. In the autistic community many do not handle the added pressures of falling ill well in a good instance, yet having to understand the concept of having to be tested and be quarantined from everyone else. Yes, there is additional testing should one become positive. Thankfully the CDC recommended quarantine time has been lessened recently to 10 days, which makes it less rough on those who do not attain the sense of having to stay in.
We as autistics, thrive on routines. 2020 has been a year where routines in many cases have been uprooted, oftentimes at sudden notice and without warning. It makes the individual frustrated and confused and feeling awful without a doubt that they are the problem. However, we must assure that it is indeed a part of life that hopefully will get better soon. Vaccinations are here and those that help us and those in long term care facilities are getting vaccinated. As they receive the vaccine, then those who are immunocompromised will receive the vaccine, lastly the general population.
With the immunocompromised in mind, I would hope that those that live in congregate settings, including those in group and personal care homes have priority after those that have a higher need and hopefully placed above the general populace. These individuals in particular have had to spend three-quarters of 2020 mostly within the confines of their own home, oftentimes without physical contact of their loved ones. Personally, if I was in that situation, I would likely relapse. I am very thankful to have my parents and have them in what I would call my “support bubble.” Without this ability, I probably wouldn’t be to do well as I am doing. I just wish that the US would undertake the “support bubble” theory from the UK, where it came from. They get it. People need to see people. That contact through the screen just doesn’t do it. You just need that face to face contact.
With things being restricted where we live, hopefully people will wake up and smell the coffee and get a sudden grasp of reality and realize that these protective measures are not meant to hurt them, they are to protect them from getting sick. I know its hard on the holidays, but hopefully if everyone does their part to stay safe and keep others safe, things will get better like they did in the early summer. Restrictions will be lightened; cases will hopefully decrease and we can get a little bit closer to a normal sense of reality and see that light at the end of this long tunnel.
We are all in this together!!!
Dustin's Dynasty 