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  2020-06-06

  Chronically ill and highly vulnerable amid Covid-19

  During this Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve learnt that some people might be more vulnerable than others. Who is high risk? I am! A quick google search shows that a person taking high doses of steroids or immunosuppressant medication can be considered as clinically extremely vulnerable. I take both. The fear is real. It has always been here but now I need to be even more careful. The lines are blurred; how ill do I need to feel before deciding that I need to go to the hospital, an incubator for all kinds of infections and an even more potential risk in catching the deadly virus? As much as the hospital is the solution, it might as well be death welcoming me with arms open. The number of infected persons has rocketing at a time, and I could not help falling sick despite not having gone out a single time during the 3-month lockdown. It was finally time to go there, the hospital! I went armed to the teeth with my mask, gloves, and a sanitiser, cautious but still anxious, and I was met with an eerily almost empty building. The place which was usually buzzing with activity at all times of the day only had a handful of doctors and nurses but no patients! It seemed like everyone had respected the lockdown measures to the letter. I was relieved and I was cared for with the staff following all precautionary measures. In a measure of solidarity, the people had decided to respect the lockdown rules to avoid the spread of the virus and had in unthinkingly doing so, potentially saved the health of many vulnerable patients. I felt safe and I still do. Caring for others is after all a social responsibility and an expression of what it means to be human and humane.