Mum’s brush with COVID and the subsequent hysteria

Here’s a story that I’m sure is not unique but given the times in which we live, one I believe is important to share ~ for a few reasons. 

My mother is 81 years old.  She is in relative good health and had her first Astra Zeneca jab on 26^th March.  For months now, she has been encouraging anyone within earshot to get vaccinated. 

On the 11th of June, the Limo driver at the centre of Sydney’s current “Bondi cluster” drove my mother. This was perhaps his most contagious day. He collected her from her home.  He helped put her seatbelt on and for the next 50 minutes or so, they chatted amiably while he drove her to complete an errand.  Mum uses the company for whom he works regularly and has nothing but the highest praise for them and the driver in question.

Sanitizer was freely available in his vehicle. It’s my understanding that, up until he received a positive result, he was being tested regularly.  Did he perhaps make a mistake by not seeking out vaccination earlier?  Maybe. However, I don’t think it’s fair to speculate on this until all the facts are known; including what was required of him at the time. By all accounts he was following all the required protocols. I am so angered by people making arbitrary pronouncements on this matter ~ especially the media.

What I do know is that he is devastated.  Don’t forget that he supposedly contracted it from an airline pilot, who no one seems to be talking about/criticizing. Let’s be clear here, the driver didn’t set out to either contract the disease or spread it to anyone.  No one does.  Again, remember that he was following all the rules, which at the time didn’t include mandatory mask wearing or compulsory vaccination.  He was completely asymptomatic. He had every right, just like a large percentage of the population now criticizing him, to be hesitant about Astra Zeneca. 

Back to Mum. NSW Health made her aware of her ‘close contact’ on 12^th June. She immediately had her second vaccination, went into quarantine and began to wait.  All those who had had any contact with her around the 11^th were also immediately tested.  All received a negative result.  NSW Health has been truly amazing.  They contacted my mother every day to see how she was feeling, checking if she had enough food and offering support if she felt the need.

Many in the media, seem to want to blame Covid on just one person (which is impossible, juvenile and irrational) and are actively beginning to stalk the driver.  This is grossly unfair. In particular, Radio 2GB, The Daily Telegraph and A Current Affair, best known for their ambulance-chasing journalism, have been leading the pack with this type of grubby reporting, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. They seem to relish stirring up hysteria within the community by presenting half-truths and gossip as fact.  As a result, some of the comments and general condemnation of the driver have been extraordinarily cruel and on the whole just plain wrong.

My mother had her second test yesterday and was negative again.  She finishes quarantine on 26^th June, 15 days after first having to isolate. 

Many of my friends are saying she “dodged a bullet”.  In fact, what I think prevented her from contracting the disease was vaccination, masks and sanitizing.  She still has nothing but kind and sympathetic words to say about the driver.  Wouldn’t it be nice to think the media and the rabid, chattering middle class might do the same?

Take outs?

1. Vaccinate
2. Sanitize
3. Wear a mask
4. BE KIND

Until next time…