Do you know someone who has had Covid?

The longer the pandemic lasts, the more likely it is that you do. However, I realized that not everyone in my congregation of Faith Lutheran does.

On Sunday, I asked three members of my church who’ve been affected by this invisible nightmare virus to explain how it’s changed their lives, in hopes that this could raise awareness of the real effects of Covid-19 in our community.

Kari Wiklund is an ER nurse at the Wyoming hospital. Life since Covid has forced medical professionals like her to treat every patient as if they have Covid, which significantly slows down the process of seeing someone that comes into the ER.

“We’ve been seeing a lot more patients that are asymptomatic,” said Wiklund. “People who don’t have any symptoms, but are admitted for something else, get a Covid swab, are coming back positive.”

Each day, she is wearing two masks and PPE to protect herself from exposure. I wondered how she copes with all this extra stress.

“My motto, since all this started in March, is to give grace,” said Wiklund. “We’re all in this together."

Jennifer Curtis ate lunch with an asymptomatic co-worker in July. She went to the hospital twice before getting a positive Covid test. Now, nearing the end of October, Curtis has experienced the ongoing effects of Covid with shortness of breath, body aches and headaches.

“I’m 39 years old and I can barely make it up the ten stairs in my home without feeling like my heart is going to jump out of my chest,” said Curtis.

I asked her what she wanted people to know about Covid if they do not know someone personally who has it.

“Just because you don’t see it and haven’t felt it, doesn’t mean it’s not real,” said Curtis. “I never needed oxygen or was hospitalized, but yet here I am, 90 days later and I’m significantly impacted.”

Covid also has down-stream impacts on families that don’t have the virus but are physically unable to be with loved ones who are quarantined in senior living facilities. 

Sandy Zarembinski shared about not seeing her own mother except via Zoom. It has changed the way she judges others.

“I’ve been humbled by this experience,” said Zarembinski. “For example, if I saw somebody driving past me with a mask on, it just didn’t make any sense to me why they would wear their mask in the car.”

That all changed when she had the opportunity to be physically present with her mother again, two weeks ago.

“I had to pick my mom up and bring her to an urgent doctors’ appointment,” said Zarembinski. “We both wore our masks, obviously, while driving in my car. It hit me that we don’t know what people are going through. To judge somebody for any decision they make is inherently wrong. I no longer question why people wear masks and I assume it’s because they’ve got somebody else in the car that’s vulnerable and that is their projection of love for that person.”

Despite the challenges, there’s hope.

My hope is that we can start seeing the people effected by Covid—not just as numbers—but as humans. It’s a lot harder to dismiss someone when they are right there in front of us.