You've taken all the precautions, but still got sick?

I’m hearing a lot of people feeling frustrated and guilty because they got COVID.

Yes, it’s frustrating if you’ve taken all the precautions and limited your activities for two years and still get infected.

But you shouldn’t feel guilty.

If you slipped up and did something you’ve put off doing for two years and were exposed then, it’s okay. No one can live in a bubble. We are humans who need social interactions. Don’t feel guilty if you went to a family gathering or social event. Especially if you’ve denied yourself these things for nearly two years, you needed that.

If you got exposed in your own home when a family member gets infected, that isn’t your fault or theirs. The virus can spread before someone knows they’re sick, so it’s easy to catch it at home from family members. And it’s not your family member’s fault if they got infected.

Let’s face it, all the school kids are at risk of being exposed daily. Even if they mask in class (which not all do), they must remove the mask to eat. The numbers are so high and Omicron is so contagious, it’s inevitable that students will bring this virus home.

Kids bring it home, then their parents bring it to their workplaces, where they can spread it among co-workers. Hopefully people at work are masked, but we all know not everyone does mask. If you must work, you must work. Even if you take precautions and wear a mask, you will need to remove it to eat and drink during your shift.

There is so much COVID around now, it’s likely that every public building has been a site of the virus at any given time.

You may not even know how you got exposed.

It doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you take care of yourself and protect those around you.

• Let people you may have exposed know, so they can take precautions.

• Protect your family from getting sick by limiting contact with them as much as possible.

• If you cannot isolate, wear the best quality mask you can and have family members also wear high quality masks (if they’re old enough to wear one).

• Turn your heating/cooling unit fan to the “on” position to circulate air.

• Use HEPA filters to clean the air.

• Open windows if possible.

Don’t feel guilty for getting sick. It happens.

No one feels guilty if they hit an ice patch on the road and cause an accident. We know accidents happen and we hopefully have protections, such as air bags and seat belts, to help prevent serious injury and death - though sometimes those happen.

On the other hand, if you’re driving at high speeds through red lights and cause a collision, this is not an accident. It was preventable. Your actions led to harm that could have been avoided.

The only thing you might feel guilty about is if you know you’re infected and you still go about your business unmasked around others. Then you should think twice about how your actions impact others.