I have a sore throat (cue the dramatic music). Well, sort of. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have given it a moment’s thought. My sore throat comes and goes; I barely notice it. It could be from not drinking enough water or the pollen beginning to fill the air. However, it is not a few weeks ago, in that other world before COVID-19.
Today, that slight sore throat makes me wonder if going to the grocery store could mean I kill someone. Am I getting sick? Am I contagious? Is it murder to go buy some cheese?
After a few days of this, I determined that I am not, in fact, sick. I have no fever, no cough, no symptoms but a vaguely, occasionally sore throat. What I have is PIH – Pandemic Induced Hypochondria.
I have not yet met anyone else with this condition but I suspect there are others. Other PIH sufferers who are anxiously looking out their windows, hesitating to go out because yesterday they coughed, just the one time but still.
This is not the same as someone who truly is getting sick. You know what that feels like. The freight train that is the flu that knocks you on your butt. No mistaking that one. The cold that starts as a sore throat (a persistent and escalating one) or maybe sniffles followed by general misery. When it is a clear sign and you know you are sick, please stay home. I know I will.
My PIH is not about a fear of the virus. I do not have a high risk factor and suspect that for me it would be mild. I could be wrong and would really prefer not to find out, however. My fear is giving it to someone else, someone who is at risk. I am afraid that the senior citizen I passed in Wal-Mart will get it from me when I think I am fine. No one should die so I can have cheddar cheese on my baked potato.
Before you go nuts in the comments below, keep in mind that I am healthy, practice social distancing, and only buy what I need on my infrequent grocery trips. I have no real basis for this fear. It is just so easy to pass this thing around and we know so little about it. We live in a time when we demonstrate “love thy neighbor” by avoiding one another, at least in person.
So I continue to monitor my mostly nonexistent sore throat just in case it decides to become something real, something deadly. I hope to find some way to help others during this crisis. For now, I do what I can to not be part of the problem. I’d rather be laughed at for PIH than live with regret for spreading this disease. I hope others make the same choice.