DECEMBER 22 — “Your systolic reading is abnormal,” the pricy blood pressure monitor chimed out loud to the entire pharmacy, to my friend’s embarrassment.
I had tagged along with said friend as she went window shopping for blood pressure measurement devices after advice from her doctor.
Just for the sake of comparison and to see if the test device was working, I strapped it on to my arm and to my shocked dismay I too got the mortifying mechanical robo-message that my readings were not normal.
Serves me right for laughing out loud when the machine made its pronouncement about my friend’s readings.
A few minutes later we were at another pharmacy where I again checked my blood pressure. The attending pharmacist’s expression was as shocked as mine.
140/92.
“It should be much lower at your age.”
Just two years earlier I had a full medical checkup and was given a mostly clean bill of health besides being anaemic, a condition I sorted out myself with research and supplements.
My low blood pressure was something I appreciated and it was something the doctor at my checkup remarked on, as all the doctors did.
I am pretty sure that my blood pressure readings are a result of my getting Covid. Though I only tested positive for three days in May, the after-effects have lingered.
Going up even the short flight of stairs in Kinokuniya KLCC has me winded; the poor cafe attendant had to watch me, panting, trying to catch enough breath to make an order.
The Apple Watch on my watch reminds me often, even when I was running three times a week, that my cardio health is below average.
I am finally strong enough to open bottles and jars on my own, where once I could not manage without help.
When I tweet about feeling disturbed about people dispensing with masks indoors I get the random person saying I shouldn’t force my choices on others or that the vaccine must have harmed me somehow.
The reality that the vaccines, at most, help reduce the harm Covid causes but do not stop transmission is not one people like to hear.
Like umbrellas in the rain, that keep the worst of the rain off you but can’t guarantee you’ll be dry, the vaccines are necessary but they aren’t enough.
My father was recently hospitalised after getting Covid, being sick at home for a week and then rushed to the hospital when he was having trouble breathing. He was vaccinated and boosted.
I know people who’ve gotten Covid more than twice and here’s the deal — it didn’t become milder each time they got it. One person even tested positive for over a week and displayed symptoms the entire time.
I know previously healthy people who now have to carry asthma inhalers after getting Covid.
Getting one strain of Covid does not give you protection from the other strain so it’s perfectly possible for you to get one strain after another.
Lockdowns make no sense right now and China’s attempt at zero Covid has been disastrous because the country prioritised eradicating the virus over keeping people alive. It doesn’t help that it refuses to import better vaccines.
Covid isn’t over. The need for masks isn’t over. Living your lives is fine but we can’t pretend the virus isn’t there and that it won’t cause harm to many people.
You can call me bitter for having to buy myself a blood pressure monitor for Christmas but while I’m tired of Covid’s lingering presence, I am even more tired of people being YOLO about it.
Keep wearing masks, be mindful about public health risks and don’t be complacent. The war isn’t over as much as we’d like to believe it but the invisible enemy still lingers.
Stay safe and stay mindful as you attend year-end gatherings and if you still haven’t gotten vaccinated or boosted, perhaps reconsider your stance.
*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
