How does a person catch COVID?
According to the CDC, this is the method most clearly understood.
COVID-19 spreads between people who are in close contact (within about 6 feet) through respiratory droplets, created when someone talks, coughs or sneezes. Staying away from others helps stop the spread of COVID-19.
In other words, if you are close enough for someone to breathe on you, then you are close enough to catch COVID from them if they have it.
How in the world did Odie and I catch it? Good question.
We have not been caviler in our approach to COVID from day one. Odie and I were sick with the flu or something in January 2020, so we quit shaking hands with people then, trying to protect them from whatever we had.
On February 18, 2020, I wrote a post about the flu and coronavirus and stated my opinion that we ought to take it seriously, including recommending that we stop shaking hands in our churches.
As I suspected, I was laughed to scorn over my suggestion and even made fun of publicly. That was OK, it was no big deal. We determined then that we would do our very best to stay free from coronavirus and make our living the best way we could, carefully.
We shut down in the spring of 2020 like most folks and then followed a very careful regimen to ease back onto the road for the rest of 2020.
Honestly, I had at least two Pastors cancel our revivals because they thought we were being too careful in our approach. That was disappointing and unpleasant, but not completely surprising.
The latter half of 2020 went very well. We determined to continue to follow our careful plan into 2021.
Our last revival preached was in Sweeny, Texas. We enjoyed great services with Bro. Lamb's small crowd and no one was sick there when we left or for the next two weeks.
We met friends for lunch the next day with masks and distancing. The waitress was masked and extremely careful. The two friends we met for lunch have not been sick since then.
Sunday morning we ministered in song for Pastor Don Goodwin in Livingston, Texas and everyone was extremely careful and considerate around us. No one in the church was sick after we were there.
Thursday afternoon, the Pastor in Bernice, Louisiana came to the church to unlock the door for us, but I was no closer to him than 10 feet and only for a very few minutes. Plus, he has already had COVID and has not been sick since then.
While KJo and I were working outside an older brother stopped for a moment to check on us, but he did not get out of his truck, we did not get near the truck and like the Pastor, he had already had COVID.
Sunday morning, Odie and I both woke up sick and tested positive. That was nine days after revival, eight days after meeting friends for lunch and seven days from one service in Livingston and no one from any of those places became sick over the next two weeks.
So, how in the world did Odie and I catch COVID? We evidently got close enough for someone to breathe on us, even though we did not know it AND even no one we were around caught it or showed symptoms of catching it later.
Yep, this is a bad, bad bug! Please be careful out there. It is not hard to catch, but may be hard to shake. Once we are well, we will venture to the outside world again, but I promise you, we will continue to be careful and probably even more so.
Thank you for praying for us. We still need Him.
Davy
