Here is something that I would not have done prior to the Covid pandemic: I spent the last two days self-quarantined in my home. I do not have Covid. I have a cold. However, the symptoms of covid are similar to those of a cold and even though I know I do not have Covid, I don’t want to share my cold with others. So, using a phrase that we use a lot at our church, “out of an abundance of caution,” I have been working from home. Zoom software enabled me to attend all of my scheduled meetings and keep contact with my colleagues at work. Most of my correspondence is done via email these days anyway, and I can receive and send email from home as easily as any other place. I did take a few naps, something I probably would have done even if I had not been isolating at home.

Our health has been pretty good since the pandemic began, but we are regularly exposed to our grandchildren and they are exposed to whatever viruses and germs come to public school. Even with increased awareness of personal hygiene, the kids have gone through two rounds of colds since the mask mandate was lifted.

In my personal experience, the masks, though inconvenient, do work to limit the spread of infection and disease. I’m getting pretty used to making sure that I always have a mask with me and pulling it out whenever I think I might be putting another person at risk. I was wearing my mask when shopping or going into the library or church before this cold, so I hope that I have not infected anyone else.

Wearing masks will remain part of the protocol for many of us for a long time. We won’t wear them in every context, but we won’t hesitate to don them when asked or when we feel we may be coming down with a cold or the flu.

I’m less convinced about self-isolation. It is, I’m sure effective. But sometimes we are capable of transmitting a virus before we have symptoms. And if we are careful about wearing masks, the risk of sharing a cold is reduced. I got this cold from playing with my grandchildren when I knew they were suffering. I took a risk and there are consequences to such behavior. I take responsibility for my cold and I’m trying my best to keep from sharing it with others.

I have it very easy when it comes to working from home. I am able to do it without much disruption. I do have job responsibilities that require me to be at the church, especially on Sundays, and this cold seems to have conveniently struck mid week. I should be back to my usual routine by Sunday. But there are a lot of workers who do not have the option of working from home. You can’t clerk at a convenience store, or clean a motel room, or make deliveries with a truck, or wire a house remotely. The majority of jobs in our society require real people to go to real places and do real work. And if you don’t have paid sick leave you simply may not be able to afford to stay home.

We are social animals. The toll of pandemic isolation is evident in the stories that people tell me about their experiences. While we should do whatever we can to avoid spreading illnesses, we also need to continue to nurture our immune systems so that we can resist the infections that are a normal part of being with other people. I suspect that this particular cold is a bit more severe for me simply because I haven’t had very many colds in the last couple of years. My body hasn’t had to fight off infection because I have been isolated from others and from the viruses that normally circulate a bit more freely.

Local school officials report that absenteeism due to normal childhood illnesses has been very high during this entire school year. There have been times when 30 to 50% of students have been out. Part of this is that the schools have changed the rules about staying home due to illness. If a child needs to be picked up by a parent from school due to illness that child is not allowed to attend school the next day in the school our grandchildren attend. Something that would have resulted in a 3 or 4 hour absence in previous years now is likely to be two or three days. The irregular attendance of students presents an additional challenge to the task of teaching. I suspect that teachers are aware that they haven’t been as effective since the pandemic forced the closure of schools. Even with schools reopened and students returning, there is less direct contact between teachers and students. Less time means less teaching in many cases.

Add to the fears of pandemic the fears of school violence, and we are slowing the pace of education for all of our children. There will be no school today in the Blaine school district. That is the district where we live, but it is not the one our grandchildren attend. The announcement is simply that the main campus is locked down due to a threat. There is no information available to parents or school patrons about the nature of the threat. It is, however, credible enough to have school officials close down the school. If, as we hope, the threat turns out to have been false, there is still the loss of a day of teaching and the loss of trust in the safety of the school. While we don’t make it a topic of conversation in front of our grandchildren, I’m pretty sure that at least the older one knows about the school shootings in Texas this week.

Worry and fear aren’t the best companions for learning. We can put on masks to decrease the threat of illness. We’ll have to take bigger steps to decrease the threat of violence in our schools.