(this piece originally appeared in The Patterson Irrigator today)

It’s been a while since I’ve written here, an occurrence for which I heartily apologize. In fact, this is the longest stretch of time that I haven’t written a piece in the nearly 15-year history of my column. Perhaps you’re wondering what happened to me. Well, I’ve just been working really hard to not catch COVID19— a virus that my doctors have said would probably kill me.

As you might have guessed, due to my Spinal Muscular Atrophy (a neuromuscular condition), I am in the highest mortality risk-group for COVID19. At the end of February, my doctors advised me to self-isolate. Since that time, the few people that enter my home must be symptom-free, wear a mask and wash their hands thoroughly and frequently. They also must be able to juggle, speak Vulcan and play the banjo.

During the last four months, other than two necessary doctor’s appointments, I literally haven’t gone anywhere. Anywhere. Not even to get my favorite tacos. Not even to see my friends at a “social-distancing” BBQ. And, I definitely haven’t snuck into someone’s random garage to have an underground haircut.

I’ve been wanting to write about my experiences here for some time, but, have been reluctant to do so. During quarantine, many high-risk folks (including the disabled) have attempted to share scientific information about the importance of social-distancing, hand-washing and mask-wearing. And many of us have been harassed for doing so. A disabled friend of mine wrote a column in a newspaper about this topic and received hate mail. She was called “selfish” for even asking people to alter their lives and routines to protect high-risk people. Her life was devalued. Her viewpoint, muffled.

I, too, have encountered such attitudes. It’s a big reason why I haven’t written here in months. The emotional challenges of COVID19 are difficult enough without having to keep justifying the value of your own life. The value of elderly lives. The value of the millions of high-risk people around this country.

But, with things opening up now, and case numbers surging locally, I’m done being quiet on this subject.

I’ve seen the massive denial many people have of how interconnected all our lives are. How we all rely on one another. No one wants to admit how vulnerable they might be, and, in turn, how vulnerable society is, to a crisis of this magnitude. It’s why the online conspiracies about this virus are so rampant. It’s easier to make yourself believe that the virus was manufactured in a Chinese factory like Tickle-Me-Elmo than it is to accept the more frightening truth: that economies, nations, and communities can be ground to a halt, at any moment, because of a random and naturally-occurring mutation in a virus.

That’s some scary stuff. It can make a person feel very small. And no one likes to feel small.

Therefore, I urge you to exercise caution in the coming months. With things opening up, you don’t want to be that horny college kid, do you? The one that celebrated freedom from his parents’ house by sleeping with the entire Alpha Phi pledge class and getting a bad rash on his man parts.

No one wants to be the guy with chlamydia. So, don’t be that guy now. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Don’t be an arsehole.

P.S. If you want to write me hate mail, please use a quill pen, calligraphy and then shove it in a box under your bed. All other comments welcome at: http://www.elizabetteunplugged.com