Submitted by guest blogger, David Harper, Associate Professor, Kinesiology at UFV
I’m sure I was exposed to the SARS-COV2 virus at the Denver Airport on March 15th. I was returning home from delivering a keynote address at a conference and arrived at the airport three hours before my flight. Everything there was busy, but normal – too normal. Aside from a few people wearing masks (and coughing under them) there seemed to be no signs that we were in the midst of a global pandemic. We were ushered into the usual reciprocating security lines that seem, in retrospect, to force exposure to the greatest number of travellers possible. I then headed down one of two descending escalators (there were no ascending ones) that crowded, what I estimate to be, about a thousand poor souls, packed cheek to jowl, on to a concourse for about 20 minutes to await sardine-packed trains to our gates. I couldn’t devise a better human petri dish experiment to maximize viral transmission.
I returned home to my wife, Dale, and our two-bedroom apartment near Stanley Park, showered and sterilized everything, and then prepared for two weeks of quarantine. I set up in my office, which doubles as our guest room, and sorted out a plan. Given that I teach online and had many other affairs to attend to, the time actually went pretty quickly and Dale was wonderful taking on all the heavy lifting. The weather was still crap, so staying inside was no great feat. And though, as a health educator, I was very interested in following all things COVID, to stay sane I limited myself to the daily updates from our leaders: Trudeau in the morning and Dr. Henry (isn’t she wonderful!) at the 3:00 p.m. briefings. Other than some tingling deep in my chest, which I assume was an innate immune response to the virus, I had no other symptoms. Phew! I might have dodged a bullet there.
If at any time you find yourself locked down at home, I have a few words of advice, given my experience. First, try to develop a healthy routine that includes some exercise and “me time”. To optimize your health, allow me to share one of my favorite theories. I believe that humans are healthiest when we engage in things that are uniquely human. If you put some thought into what makes us different from all other animals (albeit with some exceptions), I think the list would be something like this: art; music; humour; language; and mathematics (and I include puzzles and games in with the latter two). Try to emphasize these in your daily “me time” and I think you’ll be a healthier, happier person. Don’t think of being stuck at home. Think of being safe at home, where you can truly enjoy a more meaningful life. So, stay home, wash your hands, enjoy being human, and – for the time being – assume everyone has the virus and behave accordingly. If we all do that we’ll be just fine.