A True Fact

Written for https://fivedotoh.com/2023/02/15/fandangos-provocative-question-202/

Have you ever been sure that you knew something to be true only to find out that what you thought you knew to be true was, in fact, not true? If so, what was it and how did you find out that it wasn’t true?

When there were rumours about COVID, I was working at a school, and a student said to me they were worried. I told them, wrongly, that we have had diseases in the past and at no point did we have to close the school because of it. A couple of weeks later the school closed, we went into lockdown

How wrong I was.

In my defence, we had gone through bird flu, swine flue, and SARS, and everything remained open. In the past, even when there was a TB epidemic, nothing shut down. There were testing stations, where my mum was diagnosed with the disease. She was in hospital for four years, my big sister living with her nan. She couldn’t have any contact because she was so contagious.

It was a strange couple of years, especially in full lockdown, and I couldn’t even see my daughter or granddaughter, unless it was through a window. I worked from home, which is difficult as a teaching assistant, and went into work for two days a week for those students who couldn’t stay at home.

Now, with all the mask wearing, everyone is catching everything. I have a cold, which refuses to budge, there is a sickness bug going around. Our immune systems are not what they were.