East Washingtonian - Your Hometown News Source

Recently, there have been outbreaks of Covid, the Delta Variant or others with assigned Greek alphabet names over the summer. Many people, young and old I know, have experienced, to some degree, the effects of the virus. Whatever category the virus was in, most contracted the virus quickly, no matter if they were vaccinated and not.

This summer experience did not miss local businesseses, including the East Washingtonian and Dayton Chronicle newspapers, which my husband and I publish. At the Chronicle in Dayton, the door came open and the virus invaded our office, swinging through all who work here within days.

We are now recovered from the COVID Delta Variant (at least that is what strain the Columbia County Public Health is calling it anyway).

Among the people who contracted this virus was my mother and mother-in-law (both in their 80s and 90s). They come to the office on Wednesday to help with mailing the newspapers. One was vaccinated, the other was not. They both tested positive, and received the monoclonal antibody treatment and recovered quickly with little discomfort.

They did not die, contrary to what the medical people predict on the nightly news.

Since the rest of us were below 65 years of age and ineligible to receive the antibody treatment, we endured the illness at home.

It was very much like what I remembered of the flu but with a touch of pneumonia-like symptoms mixed in. Only one of us went to the hospital over night to receive an oxygen treatment, then finished convalescing at home.

Our teenage grandson, who was staying with us at that time, also came down with the virus. He was sick three days (headache, low-grade fever and body aches) and back to normal before the week’s end.

The rest of us (we are much, much older) took an additional week being sick before starting the recovery process. We were all at various, different stages of the illness, so we quarantined for three weeks. No one died in this group either.

Now that it is over, I am grateful we are well again and have been reminded that taking care of our health is optimal for longevity. The best part though is that all of us, vaccinated and unvaccinated, now have natural immunity to this nasty virus. YEA!

The concern I have is people believe once vaccinated they are free and clear. This is not so, as I have experienced firsthand. Vaccinated people are getting COVID and the Delta Variant left and right in our area and passing it around to everybody (vaccinated and unvaccinated alike). This virus does not differentiate between an mRNA-vaccinated person and one who is not. It just gets you.

Granted, some vaccinated people will have minimal symptoms as do some unvaccinated people, but most will experience sickness to some degree.

So, what is the purpose of vaccinating everyone if it is not going to stop the virus and the spread? Is the purpose of vaccinating only to minimize symptoms when they do get it? If that is the case, then why is that not expressed so people understand they will most likely get COVID or the Variants and can spread it.

And what of natural immunity? One study indicates natural immunity is 27 times more protective than the vaccine and ([mRNA vaccines] have been found to become less effective each month that passes, eventually requiring a booster).

Then why the push for vaccines even after having the virus? It has been found having a coronavirus, according to years of coronavirus research, that natural immunity is still going strong in the body 17 years after the infection.

So what is different with COVID-19? Is it because of the nature it was structured or because it is an animal virus? (Very little information of the structure of the virus is available, that I can find anyway).

Does natural immunity matter? Or has science (or politics) changed so much recently that natural immunity is not to be considered? Is this virus so different that we will never become immune to it and repeatedly get sick over and over and over again unless we get the vaccine? And, with the vaccine we will most likely get sick anyway? This sounds hopeless.

Where are the answers to these questions because what I hear from the political sect, CDC, WHO, HHS, Dr. Fauci, Gov. Inslee, Bill Gates, Joe Biden and many others; the answers keep changing daily.

So, what is real and what is the truth?