New Year, New You. Living with Covid – A brighter Future!
Welcoming the new year may feel a bit different this year, given the challenges and uncertainty of the last two years. We can all look forward to a brighter future and living with COVID-19 instead of living in fear. The last two years have seen many restrictions and changes to how we live but hopefully with the advances in treatments, vaccinations and boosters, we are now coming out of the other side. This year, thinking about the long-term is much more exciting! As Spring approaches in a few months’ time we should no longer have to stay away from our loved ones. We can look forward to enjoying social events, returning to our workplaces, travelling freely and making our own choices again.
There may be a few things that might remain for a little while longer, like distancing in busy and crowded places and mask wearing in some areas, but all other restrictions are easing. We can test if we have symptoms of COVID-19 but we will no longer have to isolate for long periods of time – it will just be like living with the Flu. You get poorly, you rest and recover and get back to normal as soon as you feel better.
At the heart of all of it is about protection and antibodies are your bodies way of protecting you against infection and symptoms. For COVID-19 you can make these through both or either vaccination and natural infection.
We’ll have the option of additional COVID-19 boosters and be able to get on with our lives. With the choice now available to antibody test at home and know your antibody status while you wait, you can make better informed decisions. Antibody testing puts you in control of your own health and now you can test where and when you want.
We can all review what we have learned from the pandemic. We might like to keep some elements of the changes we made to cope with the pandemic – like having regular video calls with family and friends that you aren’t able to visit as often as you’d like or sticking with a new sport or hobby you discovered. It’s so helpful to think positively and it’s great to be able to think about what you would like to bring back from before the pandemic and what to look forward to. Let’s make up for lost time by creating more memories with loved ones and enjoying being together again.
How can we shape our lives for the better from everything we have experienced? We all know we can successfully work from home so maybe reducing our time spent commuting and creating a better work / life balance is a positive to take forwards. We can reduce anxiety about COVID-19 by using the tests we now have available. You can test regularly to see your level of protective antibodies to COVID-19. Antibody testing every 3 months is recommended so you can record and assess how your levels are changing and make choices based on your level of protection. Testing ensures we can look forward to no more missed education, work, events or holidays.
A bright future is now on the horizon.