As Ireland tonight goes to level 5 lockdown, we will once again face a strange new world, straying no more than 5 km from home, inviting no visitors to house or garden, and limiting social interactions outside of home. Once again, the numbers of coronavirus infections are climbing, instilling fear of infection, fear of isolation, and fear of dying. Mostly, it's the fear of the unknown.
But I believe that being sailors helps to overcome such challenges. As distance sailors having set off across oceans, the great unknown the first time around, we have faced isolation for long periods and known that eventually, we reach the other side. We have faced storms and learned that they all eventually pass. We have survived when others have not, but we didn't let it stop us from taking off.
Sailing can help us keep things in perspective, perhaps enduring more along the way. It can help us cope with extreme physical and mental challenges. Facing the approaching storm, with skies darkening and seas building, our mind goes into preparation and coping mode. We make a plan, reduce sail, don protective gear, and make certain our yachts and ourselves are well-prepared to weather the storm. The number one rule we have is 'stay on the boat'. Prevention is much better than the need to rescue a person overboard. We know we most likely would not survive. So we do everything in our power to not expose ourselves to that situation. It comes to good use when going through the 'What if?' exercise which I do during night watch on board.
We learn quickly that a good sailor must be able to think rationally and calmly when the conditions around are anything but. The rule if something does go wrong: Don't Panic! And we, Alex and I, have learned that we are good that way. We don't panic until it's all over. Then we collapse and rest and let the relief wash over us until we get to the point of wondering what all the fuss was about.
Yes, I believe that having crossed oceans provides us with a resilience that those who haven't challenged themselves in similar ways perhaps lack. When the pandemic hit, we didn't panic. We assembled our PPE and protected ourselves right from the beginning, long before masks were mandated. We wore masks and gloves, we stayed distant from others, we washed our hands at nauseum, we washed the food we brought in, disposed of envelopes in the mail, we used hand sanitizer when we didn't have water, and we read every scientific study and report as it came out to educate ourselves about the behaviour of the virus and what we needed to do to avoid exposure. Prevention is better than cure. At our age and with our medical histories, we know we most likely would not survive. So we do everything in our power to not expose ourselves to that situation. Sound familiar?
Maybe we're a bit more fortunate than most in that I worked with vaccines for many years and Alex is a marine biologist. I launched and educated healthcare professionals about MMR, hepatitis B ( including the rDNA version), rotavirus, polio (oral and injectable), flu, pneumococcal, DTP, Hib, DTaP, and probably a stray one more or two along the way. So I understand what I read and what's important. I can evaluate the data and put actions into practise long before the official recommendations come through.
So I'm now applying the 'What if?' to this winter of pandemic fatigue. We are the carers for Alex's 87 yo frail mother. That's a huge responsibility. If we can't be there for her, who will?
The first thing we did in preparing for the winter surge is sign up for the flu vaccine. It's a quadrivalent inactivated vaccine. We were among the first in our town to get it. The next thing I did was to get my teeth cleaned. I am prone to gum disease and my appointment in April was cancelled. I wanted to get the periodontal work done before the virus returned to community circulation. I still need to get my annual physical done. We have plenty of PPE, we have contactless payment, we have control over how many we see. I go shopping once a week. If the winter months with everyone being forced to stay indoors causes a surge, I'll switch to online ordering or going less often. After all, I could provision for 4 weeks at sea just fine.
What if the pandemic continues to intensify and overwhelms the HC system?
What if the flu hits particularly badly this year with strains that weren't predicted?
What if someone we had contact with gets infected?
What if they start running out of PPE?
What if we test positive?
What if one of us gets hospitalised?
What if we both need hospitalisation?
What if Alex's mother gets infected?
What if my family in the states has problems?
What if the vaccines are delayed or ineffective or unsafe?
What if the virus mutates?
All I hope is that we get the answers right and make it through to the other side where we can say, "What was that all about?" In the meantime, we can only be prepared.
What's really interesting is that bluewater yacht sales are booming. Lots of people just want to sail away.
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