What if we talked about COVID like it was polio?

Most of us think of polio and for Americans, our go-to is FDR, a president who hid his polio complications throughout his life. Polio had a far crueler death rate than COVID, but there are a lot of similarities.
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Both spread easily. Both have respiratory complications. Both can be contained by quarantine and (eventually) vaccines.

Polio had a larger death rate because resources to treat symptoms didn't exist or weren't as readily available as they are now.
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Scientists and medical professionals all over the world are looking at COVID and working from polio's history. Citizens around the world are looking at the daily case and death rates. We're looking at this wrong. We need to be looking at it like the scientific world does.
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We need to be seeing COVID for the long-term issues. Current parallels between the two viruses are respiratory and neurological issues. The first survivors of COVID are already noting stroke-like symptoms. Weakness, fatigue, memory loss. This is not something that will pass.
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So why my post? Because school years are starting up. Because many people argue the death tolls are small. Because the threat doesn't feel real after months of lockdowns & restrictions.

The threat is real. The long-term damage of COVID is real and the extent is unknown.
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My family has neuro and physically typical kids. My husband & I can work from home. We have job security and health insurance. Childcare is not an issue.

WE ARE PRIVILEGED.

We are lucky & we're privileged. Many families do not fall into our category. They NEED in-person...
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school options for their children. They are essential workers or simply people who have bills to pay. They have children who are floundering at home without the school structures, routine, and socialization. These families need my family to step the hell up.
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By my family opting for distance learning/eLearning, we are reducing the number of kids in our local schools. We are making it safer, closing the bubble of exposure, to those families who NEED in-person school & childcare. They are relying on families like mine to help.
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While it sucks to keep my children isolated, it only sucks. It's not a threat. Not a danger. We can flex our privilege to protect our family as well as those in our community.

We treat COVID like polio. We do not want 10yo's exposed to potential lifelong complications.
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No one, NO ONE, should have to worry about these threats, but our world is not giving us that option. Our option is to make choices for ourselves and others on the small scale. Save others by staying home until there are vaccines.

#KnowHistory
#WearADamnMask
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