Unintended Covid-19 Effects
Things just not mentioned.
When the news of Covid-19 emerged at the beginning of 2020, there was of course, a sense of trepidation. Myself and many others of a certain age remembered the prior waves of viruses that had gripped the media’s (and in turn, the public) attention to sell fear to the masses. Bird Flu, Swine Flu, H1N1, SARs, MERS, Lyme disease, Deer Fever, et all-the list goes on of different diseases that were ready and waiting to take humanity out according to the headlines.
But…
There were unintended consequences that the reaction to Covid-19 had for myself and certainly other families across the world with elderly relatives and friends.
I’ve always been close to my mother. One of the most rewarding things in life is to establish a trusting relationship with a parent to turn to for guidance and love. Throughout childhood into early middle age, mom was the one I could ask for advice, or just to chat about the weather. While serving in the military I talked to her at least once a week if I wasn’t on deployment. As I got older, those calls became a daily ritual.
She grew up in the shadow of the Great Depression and WWII, and is one of the strongest women I’ve known. (besides my grandmother, which is where mom got her strength I’m sure.) It was not an easy life, but things were harder for almost everyone back then. These experiences shaped her personality and sense of Stoicism about the daily affairs of life. That isn’t to say she was a hard person-just more practical about the harsh realities of life.
Then the Covid media and political frenzy began.
My (now) 83-year old mother was in the beginning stages of dementia in the spring of 2020. Not anything that impaired her seriously, just a touch of forgetfulness; misplacing a recipe book, forgetting where she put her notepad, etc. She was functioning very well-still driving, running errands, reading her favorite books, and mostly okay with the routine she had going. Just forgetful about the little things, but still herself. Covid changed all of that. Watching the daily news that repeated the mantra of Covid death figures and the attitude of panic began to take a toll on her mental state. As anyone who has a friend or family member with declining mental faculties learns, daily routines are helpful to stave off the effects. It doesn’t reverse the condition, but can reduce stress and anxiety for that person.
Once she became irrationally convinced that she needed to 'stay' home until Covid was over, her decline quickly accelerated. I tried everything to convince her that the fears were overblown and that, yes, she could and should keep going out and just take precautions-as one should at that age with a respiratory virus. I tried explaining to her that she needed to keep living life, only with some caveats for someone of advanced age; ie wear a mask, use sanitizing products, etc.
She stopped shopping, going out to eat-she even started refusing to go to the doctor anymore. No labs or medical visits for over two years. This did nothing good for her dementia condition. She stopped reading, gardening, and pretty much all the activities she used to enjoy. Besides the onset of dementia she was healthy. No underlying medical conditions, not overweight, didn’t smoke or drink, nothing.
She no longer drives, or does much of anything else that her former self did. Covid hysteria, not the disease itself, robbed me and my family of my mother's self-assurance and personality far quicker than her disease progression. I do not know how much longer she will recognize me, yet I do know that the time left that she does would have been longer without the Covid charade.
How many others have had go through what I did because of Covid lies and distortions?1
Links:
‘The Coronavirus Has Now Killed 250,000 People in the U.S.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/18/world/covid-19-coronavirus
The Importance of Routine and Familiarity to Persons with Dementia
https://alzheimersproject.org/the-importance-of-routine-and-familiarity-to-persons-with-dementia/
The lies I am referring to is the media/gov't methods used to create the atmosphere of dread and horror in the nation-as if this virus had a mortality rate of some level 4 pathogens (Ebola, Marburg virus, Lassa fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, and many other hemorrhagic viruses found in the tropics.) Then more lies about lockdown measures, business restrictions (not for big corporations, of course) and the hypocrisies on display by public figures constantly in the news. All of that greatly contributed to my Mother's mental decline at an accelerated pace. That was the purpose of my post.
My mom died 20 months ago at age 97. My dad had passed on at age 79 two decades before mom. Talked to mom every week and visited her as often as possible some 900 miles away. While she was very frail toward the end I think the enforced isolation due to COVID is what did her in. No visitors. She was so lonely.
My partner misses his mother too. She died of Covid in Dec of 2020 just before she could get vaxxed. Her death sure doesn’t seem like a charade.