Skip to content

Opinion: My best buddy who mocks masks is hospitalized with COVID-19

You think you understand COVID-19? Wait until someone close to you gets it
masks
People doing the right thing and wearing masks in Metro Vancouver. Glacier Media photo

People like to think they understand just how dangerous COVID-19 is, but I don’t think it really registers in your mind until you get it yourself or someone close to you tests positive.

At least that’s how it’s been for me in the past few days after my cousin, as well as one of my best buddies, both let me know they have been hospitalized with COVID-19.

I think reading all those horrible death numbers every day sort of became white noise because hearing from two people I care about detail their struggles in the last 72 hours was a real gut punch.

I haven’t really been able to think straight since then.

Both have been texting me about how just trying to take a short breath induces panic in their minds.

I’ve had to balance my anguish and helplessness – we can’t even visit them in hospital – with my anger over my friend’s previous stance on the wearing of masks.

I know he has worn a mask in certain situations, especially since Dr. Bonnie Henry imposed stricter mask rules, but he has mocked them all throughout the pandemic and admitted to being lax in following the rules.  

No, I haven’t said “I told you so.” I’m not that kind of person. But I’ve thought it. My emotions have roller-coastered between tears and anger at his cavalier approach to the pandemic.

We have exchanged words on the topic throughout 2020. He likes sending me links to “COVID-19 is a hoax” websites, sometimes seriously and sometimes just to troll me for a laugh.

Well, he’s not laughing now. Neither am I.

I just want him and my cousin to get better. I want all this to be over, but I know that’s not happening anytime soon. I also know my friend and my cousin, even if they do survive, face long-term health struggles due to the damage COVID-19 causes to the human body.

All this comes as B.C. continues to break records for deaths and cases.

Burnaby also shattered a record for COVID-19 cases in just one week.

The latest data from the BC Centre for Disease Control show that from Nov. 29-Dec. 5, Burnaby had 238 cases. That’s the exact same number Burnaby had for the entire month of September, according to the BCCDC.

Let that sink in.

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox 44.