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Every once in a while, I wonder if I’m overreacting to the whole “potential for long COVID” thing by continuing my strong isolation. My primary-care physician definitely thinks I am.

Then I see this:

I watched Physics Girl on YouTube. Even though I’m a physicist, Dianna Cowern often asked questions that challenged me. I usually learned something new from her videos.

She was physically fit. She climbed mountains and walked through deserts and visited the Arctic. By any definition of the words, she was active and healthy.

Now she’s not.

I’m not physically fit, though I’m trying; the time I used to spend commuting now goes to daily exercise. But given my health issues and my track record, I’m practically a poster boy for hospitalization and being a victim of long COVID.

I figure I have maybe 30 years left. I’d rather not spend them with a busted lung or kidney, or any of the other potential symptoms of this pandemic disease.

When will it end? When will I be able to go to a restaurant, or watch a movie in a theater, or visit the Ren Faire again? When will I no longer have to request that every person who visits me, or whom I visit, test negative that day on an at-home COVID test?

What are the odds that I’d be afflicted with long COVID? I got all the vaccinations and booster shots. If the odds have gone from 0.6% to 0.3%, then I’d take my chances. If the odds have been reduced from 40% to 10%, that’s too much risk for me.

I don’t know the answer to any of those questions.

Since the isolation started in March 2020, I have not gotten COVID at all. For now, I aim to keep it that way.

I’ll keep stock-piling my at-home tests, keep wearing the mask when I’m outdoors…

And seriously consider whether I should switch physicians, since my PCP feels it’s OK to no longer wear a mask at the office. After all, New York State no longer mandates it.