It’s been awhile since I posted a blog.

I know that many followed this blog for the COVID-19 updates during the difficult times of the pandemic. As we saw better outcomes with vaccination and treatment, you will agree with me that it is time to move on, albeit still cautious of how SARS-CoV-2 can possibly evolve in the future.

With that said, I chose the Greek word Ataraxia as the title for this blog.

It means, “a serene state of calmness, freedom from worry.”

The past three years have truly been difficult. Not only in terms of healthcare and economy, but the overall anxiety driven by the pandemic.

There are many who still live in perpetual fear of catching COVID-19 and still many who are confused with the isolation and quarantine rules when one tests positive for the virus.

Without a doubt, majority of the infections we are seeing now are mild.

I tested positive for COVID on May 1, 2023.

Because it was a holiday, I had a 3 km run in the morning of this very warm day. After a good shower, I asked my family to have lunch in the mall. We always pick sitting outside (where there is good ventilation) in spite of the heat. After lunch, we went around the mall (with masks on). I told my mom that I felt a bit exhausted (and attributed it most likely to both the heat and the run). We went home early and I took a nap and woke up feeling better.

But better wasn’t good for me. That’s because this was unusual. I do some runs but don’t feel winded down. And because there were so many sick kids in the clinic lately, I decided to swab myself. And I was positive.

I didn’t have any other symptoms. No fever, cough, cold or loss of taste and smell or pain. Nothing at all. But I isolated for 5 days and continued to wear a mask up to day 10. I was already negative on the 7th day (with day 0 being the first day I tested positive) and a repeat test on the 9th day continued to be negative. I short, I was fattening myself for a week and binging on Netflix and Disney Plus and working online.

It dawned on me – how many people had symptoms similar to mine and did not bother to test? As I’ve always told my patients, you don’t need to have fever to be positive for COVID-19.

None of my family who were exposed to me had COVID. Maybe because they all had COVID infection already 6 months ago and I was the only one left in the household that has not had natural COVID infection. Could it also be due to the fact that I received my bivalent in the US in October 2022 that I was ‘protected’ for a couple of months? But the circulating strains currently are not covered anymore by the bivalent vaccines that are being provided.

That week of catching COVID gave me time to mull and think about life after COVID infection. This will most likely be a viral infection we all will catch (just like influenza) and there will be a variety of circulating strains from a dominant variant and sub variants. Those that have had the natural infection will have more robust protection and those that have had vaccination will be protected against more severe clinical illness.

Catching COVID taught me a valuable lesson in medicine post-COVID.

Ataraxia should be how we look at the current COVID situation.

Work. Eat. Drink. Travel. Relax. Have fun. Repeat…

Life, after all, should be celebrated.