Got Covid but working through it? That’s nothing to boast about | Arwa Mahdawi
Another day, another public figure insisting a deadly virus isn’t going to slow them down. Chuck Schumer, Anthony Fauci, Pete Buttigieg: give it a rest
There was a short but sweet period at the start of the year when I suspected I was superhuman. Everyone I knew seemed to have contracted Covid, but I’d managed to evade it. I’m probably immune, I thought smugly. Scientists should do studies on me. You can guess what happened next: in late March, my entire household got Covid. Forget superhuman, for a week I was barely human. On day five of testing positive, when I was starting to feel marginally better, I thought I was probably well enough to write my Guardian newsletter. I sat down to work and was immediately overcome with brain fog. The only thing I could write was “urrgh, sorry” to my editor. At least I was within my word count for once.
I’m not bringing this up because I want belated feel-better chocolates (although they wouldn’t go amiss), but because I am aghast at the number of public figures merrily announcing that they’re working through Covid, like a deadly virus is no big deal. On Monday, for example, it was announced that 71-year-old Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senate majority leader, has “very mild symptoms” but will work remotely. Last month, 81-year-old Dr Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he had tested positive with “mild symptoms”, but would “continue to work from his home”. Around the same time, Pete Buttigieg said exactly the same thing: mild symptoms, will work remotely.
Read the original article at The Guardian