Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

Covid is still here, unfortunately. On the bright side, today we have a guest post from THEODORE SCOTT. He’s an acupuncturist. On the topic of Covid, he knows what he is talking about.

Before I turn this blog over to THEODORE’s voice of experience on Covid, hello! As always, I invite you to pause any time you learn something new. Or you disagree. Or you have any kind of strong reaction that you can wrap words around. Go into our COMMENTS  boxes and share with the rest of this learning community.

Depending on what you write, THEODORE may get back to you. Or me. Or both of us, one after another. Let’s make this blogpost sparkle with active discovery and engagement. And yes, I’ll supply some questions for your comment-consideration as we continue.

Although Covid Is Here, What Else?

What else is still here? Your free will, that’s what.

Covid still presents us with important choices. How will we live in a time of pandemic?

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way;

“Isn’t Covid Basically Over?”

No. It’s still ripping through the world population and causing mass death and disability.

At last count, 32.9 million excess deaths have been estimated since the start of the pandemic. That’s pretty close to the combined population of both Australia and New Zealand. Can you imagine if the entire population of both these countries just got… wiped out within a four year period?

And that grim toll has been speeding up in the last couple of years, not slowing down.

In Australia, Covid has become the third leading cause of death – but only since 2022, when we collectively stopped fighting it with any seriousness.

“Why Does It Feel Like the Pandemic Is Over?”

There’s a lot of moving parts here and I don’t pretend to understand it all. Here’s what I think I do get:

1. We’re sick of it! This has been a nightmare plague and it’s been too much to keep worrying about. We just want it to be over already – I certainly do.
2. This has built up in Collective Consciousness and has become a way of thinking that is difficult to avoid. The collective belief of billions of people has real weight!
3. Governments and health officials know people are sick of Covid, and that people don’t want to hear any more about it. These officials have had to deal with protests and riots and death threats and accusations of dictatorship.

In short, the people we rely on for leadership on this got told to Shut up about Covid. They’re only human. Many people who were just trying to help got seriously punished for their trouble.

Blog-Buddies, it’s Rose here. I invite you to COMMENT below with your thoughts about this.

“Isn’t Covid Mild Now?”

No. We’ll get into that soon.

“Hasn’t a Combination of Vaccinations and Previous Infections

Left Us Basically Protected?”

No. Hybrid immunity is not happening with Covid. And the Covid vaccines, which were a miracle of modern medicine, are being steadily out-run by the rapid mutations of Covid.

To be very, very clear – I love vaccines. I just had my sixth Covid shot. It is still critical for everyone to get every Covid shot for which they are eligible! But all tools have their limitations.

Covid doesn’t need research and clinical trials and funding before it can update itself – but the vaccines do.

It’s never been enough for us to rely solely on vaccines to save us. More is asked of humanity, if we are to protect ourselves and others from Covid. Because, like it or not, Covid is where? It’s still here.

Look to Your Ethics, Folks. This Is a Pandemic.

One thing I’ve noticed about Covid these days?

Many people who I know are deeply caring, sensitive and smart individuals – people who would never intentionally hurt a fly – I think they’ve been taking a concerning perspective on Covid prevention.

Specifically, I believe these good, loving people have been thinking about Covid more in terms of their own personal risk. I believe they have been thinking about their lifestyles in terms of, “What level of risk to myself am I comfortable with?”

Now, this is a totally appropriate way to think about many things in life. In most areas, we are the ones who choose the parameters of how we live.

We are free people and we live accordingly, as is our right.

Covid has some characteristics that warrant extra thinking about, though.

Related questions from Rose: What if you unintentionally cause — or contribute to — other people being sickened by Covid? What if people become significantly disabled?

Maybe you don’t believe in “any of the nonsense about Covid.” Will you still be creating karma for yourself… by causing the virus to spread? Please, COMMENT below with your thoughts about this.

Why ISN’T Covid Over Yet?

The reasons might surprise you. But more is at stake than satisfying your intellectual curiosity.

I believe that we ignore this disease at our peril. Also, ignoring Covid endangers others, whether we happen to think about them or not. Here come three reasons why Covid sure isn’t over yet.

First Reason: Covid is Still Extremely Contagious

It may be one of the most contagious diseases ever seen.

1. It is fully airborne – able to hang in the air like smoke for long periods of time.
2. Prior infections do not meaningfully protect you from future infections, and you can get reinfected over and over again.

Second Reason: 30 Percent of Infections Are Asymptomatic

You can absolutely:

• Have Covid
• Be contagious
• And not realise you’re spreading it.

Third Reason: Covid Is Still Extremely Damaging And Dangerous

Covid can give you a range of serious illnesses.

Or make you disabled. 

Or kill you outright.

Even initially asymptomatic infections can still do serious long-term damage

And each reinfection does cumulative damage.

I invite you to pause here and take a minute to really think about what it means,                                                that all three of these factors are in play at the same time.

Adding up These Three Key Points? It Becomes Clear

Protecting yourself from Covid doesn’t only help you. When you protect yourself from Covid, you’re also protecting everyone around you.

I believe that people at this blog are caring individuals with powerful consciences. Probably you’d be upset if you so much as stepped on somebody’s foot.

I truly believe that the only reason anyone reading this, here at this blog, would be ok with risking infecting someone else with Covid? Would be if they genuinely didn’t realise it was still a big deal.

If you have found yourself in this position, don’t be too hard on yourself. You are right there with nearly everyone else on the planet.

But, as you read this, your understanding has a chance to wake up. We can all realise now that taking Covid seriously matters. Likewise, protecting yourself properly matters.

This understanding keeps you from inflicting serious harm on others:

Harm that I know none of you would ever want to commit, were you in full knowledge of that harm.

Though Covid Is Here, Really Here, Does It Seem Abstract to You?

In many ways, Covid IS quite an abstract threat. This legitimately makes it harder to grapple with and take seriously. Layers of abstraction include:

• We can’t see, smell or feel it. Covid is invisible to all our senses. Our grasp of it can only be conceptual.
• The disease is totally impersonal. (Wouldn’t it be easier to take this threat seriously if it were, say, advancing on us with a knife?)
• Often there is a big delay between an initial infection and discovering the full damage long term.
• Understanding it is a bit technical: namely, realistically understanding the complexity to how Covid spreads.

Thank you for reading this article, developing more of this technical understanding. Now let’s consider…

How to Protect Yourself against Covid

Come to terms with something extra abstract about this disease: Covid has a delayed mechanism of action. This, to me, is one of the most confusing and dangerous ways in which Covid is abstract, making it difficult to get a solid handle on how to protect yourself.

Basically, it’s my experience that people are used to thinking of most infectious diseases in terms of a single event. The popular notion is that you catch a cold or a flu, then you have it until you don’t. And then it’s over.

One of the things that makes Covid so obscenely dangerous? It’s how much of the damage from Covid won’t show right away. Often that damage doesn’t reveal itself fully until later.

For example, say Sam has an initial Covid infection. Once the acute phase is over, he might think, “Well, that wasn’t too bad.” Alternatively, Sam might think, “That was tough, but at least it’s over now.”

Frequently, though, lingering damage is done by even mild or asymptomatic infections.

Blog-Buddies, this apparent paradox has intrigued me. (Rose.) This year we’ve had many blogposts around the concept of High Truth Value. Sometimes this is immediately apparent, nothing twisty involved. Like, a big coffee cup holds more than a dinky little cup.

I invite you to COMMENT below with your thoughts about a second paradox: How natural it feels to understand many ideas with High Truth Value. Versus the counter-intuitive lingering damage caused by an asymptomatic Covid infection, also an idea with High Truth Value.

Related to Covid’s Delayed Mechanism of Action

It is very common that people catch Covid, with any degree of severity in the initial phase (including asymptomatic infections), and then a year later, find out they suddenly have diabetes, or heart damage, or blood clotting that leads to a stroke… or they just have no energy to live their lives.

Remember, Covid-19 has only existed for 4 years! We haven’t had much time to collect what’s called “longitudinal data” – what happens with this disease over long periods of time. But the early data we’re getting back is… rough. Often, the damage caused by a Covid infection — over time — is showing itself to very often be much more than people realise, during that initial acute phase.

For Those of You Who Have Already Had Covid

For those of you reading this who have already had Covid, please do not despair! This is still essential knowledge for you too – even more important for you, than for those who have never had Covid. The most important thing for you to consider is the issue of reinfection.

Basically, every time you catch Covid, the chances of experiencing a serious health effect, like Long Covid, organ damage, disability etc – this chance increases every time you catch it. And because it mutates so rapidly, your previous infection does very little to protect you against future infections. You can catch Covid over and over again.

Additionally, we’re learning that Covid infections damage your immune system, making you more vulnerable to yet another Covid infection (as well as other potential infections you may have previously been able to easily brush off).

I know this isn’t how most people are used to thinking about infections! But unfortunately, it seems that Covid infection erodes your immunity, rather than strengthening it.

The good news is this – the more you do now to protect yourself, and the sooner you start doing it, the better your chances are of avoiding serious damage from Covid, or limiting further damage beyond what you may have already experienced.

Don’t waste time on fear and despair! Instead, take action, and learn how to protect your health even better now. Preventing future infections is essential for giving you the best chance of full recovery from any previous infections. You can do it!

Your Invitation To Leadership. Take a Stand

What’s desperately needed right now is leadership. Anyone who takes Covid seriously right now, and protects themselves and others, will count as a leader.

A huge part of the problem is: Because nearly everyone thinks Covid is over, that makes it seem very normal to think that Covid is over! People out there in the community who take Covid seriously help to disrupt that dangerous consensus.

When you take Covid seriously, you are pushing back against the Collective Consciousness juggernaut of “Don’t worry about Covid” that is killing us.

To see how many hits on that nonsense, see my (Rose’s) COMMENT below. I’ll also let you know how many hits I find on my Google for “Covid is over.” Holy cow!

Also, do any of you think that, if a person says or does something by way of leadership, that might shows in the person’s aura? What think you?

Our group here, in the Energy Spirituality community, would be a seriously meaningful addition to the current dearth of leadership on Covid.

On a personal level, I care about the people in this community, and I want you and your loved ones to survive. This pandemic won’t last forever – but it’s going to take way, way longer if we avoid dealing with it!

First step is to go here and start studying. Now, there’s a lot and you don’t have to read it all in one go! Start from the top and take your time to really understand the situation, because Covid is a bit technical. Consequently, developing the necessary understanding to meaningfully protect yourself is a bit technical too.

From Rose: We’re drawing close to the end of this guest post by Theodore. I have just one more question to prompt your COMMENTS, Blog-Buddies.

Some of you readers here are empaths. Likely, you regular readers of the Energy Spirituality® Blog are familiar with the system of Empath Empowerment®.

Therefore, you know the difference between being an unskilled empath versus becoming a Skilled Empath — a life skill that you can acquire in as little as a month. My question is, “Why might it be particularly difficult to go through the continuing Covid problem… for folks who are unskilled empaths?”

Just a Little More Expertise Can Help So Much:

Level up Your Masking

Look, I’m not asking you to become experts on every aspect of Covid. But what I am inviting you to do is spend a bit of time developing a little expertise about masking.

Know enough to save your own life and the lives of the people you care about! You will pick it up in no time.

If you develop expertise on nothing else, get good with masks.

Learn how to find authentic N95 masks. (Yes, there are fakes and they don’t work).

Learn how to fit and seal them properly to your face. (Men, remember – masks can’t seal if you haven’t had a shave that morning – more in the COMMENTS below).

Develop a really strong understanding of when to use them – which is any time you might be at risk of catching or spreading Covid. Remember that Covid is running rampant right now, and you can’t tell who has it due to the 30% asymptomatic infection rate – so erring on the side of caution is a good start.

There’s more to it than masks – you’ll see as you study – but good masking habits and skills are the sine qua non of an effective Covid defense. This document goes over the basics of masking as part of a broader strategy, and help you think about where and when to apply all your protective measures..

Let’s do our best. This is a community of leaders – let’s show real leadership on Covid!