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Dear COVID, We Need To Talk
I’ve learned so much from you. Now, kindly GTFO.
When I was a kid, I once asked my mother why we get sick. She said, “so that we’ll appreciate it when we’re healthy.”
My mom has always been a practical kind of person, and I think I still remember this answer only because it was so out of character. Oddly, almost philosophical words from her.
But since I met you, COVID, I’ve learned a lot about my health, both mental and physical. And my mother’s words ring truer now than ever. Because of our brief affair, I’ve learned to appreciate my life without you so much more.
Getting to know each other
It started smelling like the apocalypse to me somewhere around February 2020. In Argentina, the Health minister, Ginés Gonzalez García, still claimed you were just a little flu that would stay confined to China, and then maybe Europe, and then perhaps the United States. Dengue fever was the only disease Argentina should worry about, he claimed.
What a way to underestimate such a formidable enemy.
I started seeing you when I was writing some op-eds for a ghostwriting client about your spread across the Middle East at the time. The whiff of impending doom kept getting stronger and stronger. It was only a matter…
