Editor’s Desk: What it’s like being in the minority as a person who’s never had COVID

I think most of us would agree, at least for now, the panic has gone out of the pandemic.

Perhaps one of the biggest signs that’s the case came on October 14 when the WA Government removed mandatory COVID-19 isolation rules.

First it was 14 days of compulsory quarantining, then seven days, then five. Now none. We are now truly living with COVID.

The isolation no-more rule got me thinking. I have been lucky enough not to contract COVID, which is surprising given how many close contacts of mine have. It’s either down to dumb luck or a super-strong immune system, although I don’t know about the latter given I’ve caught a few run-of-the-mill colds this year.

My COVID-free status has put me in the minority in my family and in the workplace. What about you? Have most of the people in your day-to-day life had COVID?

Given there has been 1.164 million cases of COVID recorded in WA since the pandemic began, chances are if you haven’t had it, you’re way outnumbered.

Part of me curiously wonders what it would be like, to experience it. Would I have had a mild case, or a more extreme bout of it? How much worse would it be than the flu?

And I’ve also missed out on experiencing it would have been like to have been a prisoner in my own home for two weeks (I think I would have enjoyed the part which forced me to binge-watch shows, catch up on my reading and potter around my house). However, a big part of me is quite proud that I have managed to dodge it for so long.

Now it’s so common, you don’t even have an enforced period of solitude to recover. You just have to treat it like any other time you’re off-colour. If you’re sick, you should stay at home, and keep your contacts to a minimum to avoid spreading your germs. Common sense, it seems.

But I wonder, without mandatory isolation, will many people with COVID still come to work, rather than recuperate at home? Will that pre-COVID soldier-on mentality re-emerge?

I was one of those people before COVID who did not want to admit defeat or let anyone down if I got sick. I would carry on, go to work even though I should have stayed home in bed.

I think one of the positive things the pandemic has taught us is to accept the bigger picture. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Life will go on if you don’t go to work for one day. Your workmates would actually prefer not being in your company if you’re coughing, wheezing and spluttering everywhere.

For those workaholics out there, there’s always the option of working from home in sickness and in health.

Overall, we should all be thankful to come out the other side of this pandemic, and that life is returning to normal, which hopefully we can appreciate more than we did before with a fresh set of eyes.

But COVID isn’t gone. It’s still here and who knows if there’s another variant lurking in our near future that could cause havoc again. Complacency is our enemy and just because the rules and barriers are falling, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t remain vigilant. Our sacrifices over the past three years have been so great we can’t let them be for nothing.