I Caught COVID

by Joni Kamiya, Hawaii Farmers Daughter, January 25, 2023

Well, I was just thinking that I might be able to miss catching COVID this year. I was wrong.

I had so many exposures through work over the last 3 years and somehow avoided getting sick. I felt it was due to religious use of PPE that kept me safety. I never did think that it would be my own family member who would be the source.

I woke up last Friday with a diffuse headache in the back of my eyes, fever, runny nose, and a majorly sore throat. I had tested the day before due to my exposure from my husband and was negative. I retested they say I had symptoms and was still negative and called work. I was out for the count.

The next several days I had increasing congestion on top of the symptoms I started with. It wasn’t bad like the flu but it was not pleasant being all stuffed up. I was advised to take the test yesterday and was indeed positive.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to be unvaccinated and getting this. It is no surprise why so many people died from this disease early on with no defenses. The other variants were very virulent that caused severe illness and disability. So far, 3 out of 5 of my household turned positive in a matter of a few days. So far, 2 of the kids are still negative.

So it is a good thing that most people are getting the mild variant right now with the immunocompromised still being at risk for severe disease. The bad thing is that we still have anti-vaxxers polluting people’s minds and spreading disease in the name of organic foods and supplement sales.

If the majority of people followed the anti-vaxxers beliefs, we would have a very unproductive society. Many people would be hit by disease and we all would feel the trickle down effects. An ill child keeps a parent home and they can’t provide for the family and it exponentially increases as we have opened up as a society again. The amount of disease spread would be enormous but thankfully, many have chosen to take the vaccine.

I’m still under the weather on day 6 with headaches, loss of appetite, runny nose, coughing, and sore throat but I feel I’m on the mend. I’m glad I got the mild symptoms of this disease while being vaccinated. I feel it has protected me and my family over the last 3 years along with PPE use. It is frustrating that 3 years later we are still affected by COVID. That is most likely due to ongoing disinformation campaigns.

Disinformation has a cost on society and we cannot stop fighting it. Our health depends on it.