We have all made pandemic gambles--those games of chance when we hedge our bets in one direction or another. During this pandemic year, we have all had to choose time and again about the right course of action in multiple situations.
Our family, like so many others, have had to make some difficult choices, but unlike many, we have not had to face the ultimate loss of losing a loved one to this virus. We are grateful of this, and I acknowledge that upfront as I write about the gambles we face.
We have had to make decisions about these events:
- wedding now or wedding later
- holidays with family or holidays with only a few others
- working or retirement
- new job prospects
- shopping, recreation avenues
- budgetary considerations
For the most part, we've gambled on the safe side. I retired rather than stay working in a situation that I felt was too risky for my health. A loved one's wedding was postponed. We spent holidays with a few family members rather than the usual big-family celebrations. Travel and vacations were limited. Shopping was reduced and complete with many safety measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, more hand washing, and careful attention to the times and places we shopped.
We gambled on the side of safety to keep ourselves healthy and others healthy too. So far, so good with respect to that, and we know that's partly to do with making good choices and partly to do with luck and privilege too.
Now, in many ways, we are feeling the pandemic pain more accutely. We're tired of all the social limitations we are facing. We're frustrated that we had to leave good jobs just to stay healthy, and we're very sad that we can't visit a loved one who is ill due to the COVID-19 safety measures that exist. Further, as part of our gamble in favor of health and safety, we've spent as much 36+ hours trying to get vaccine appointments without complete success--the systems remain klunky, time-consuming, and insensitive to people's time.
So, with the pandemic still raging, we'll continue to gamble on the safe side. I'll take time off from seeking a vaccine appointment. I've expressed my ideas about how to make the system better, but I can't waste another whole day logging in and out of computer sites trying to find an appointment--I've wasted too many hours on this already. Hopefully I won't contract the virus in the meantime.
Again, I am fortunate to not have experienced the greatest pain and loss the pandemic has brought to too many Americans and their loved ones. So far we've been sparred the pandemic's greatest cost--the life of someone we love or grave illness. But, like all, we are ready for this chapter of life to be over--we can't wait to be able to be free of the limitations and struggles the pandemic has brought to us and everyone else.