Over the phone, the person from the Department of Health lists in a hurry all the scientifically documented symptoms of COVID. There is coughing, nausea, fever etc. I’m meant to say ‘Yes’ to those I’ve experienced. But melancholia or grief is not listed. I don’t tell him that three months ago I was standing in a church, feeling very cold even though it was summer. Antony, my 57-year-old cousin (not that much older than myself), was lying in his enclosed casket. The service was brief for a Greek Orthodox funeral. We were all socially distanced, wearing masks, unable to kiss or hug his mourning wife and children. Antony was double vaccinated. He was fit. A security guard who had his own company. He followed the rules. His ‘underlying health issue’ was bronchitis. He had never gone to hospital for bronchial problems, but that night his heart was palpitating, and his breathing was unsteady.
After the funeral, countless flashbacks of Antony standing at the club door with a smile as soon as he sees me, giving me a hug at his daughter’s wedding, small talk about parenting teenagers when we last caught up at our uncle’s 80th. He’s missed by many in the tight-knit Pontian community of Melbourne.
At the funeral, I didn’t see Antony’s wife, Christina. If I did, I may not have recognised her without her long hair and curvaceous body. She was in hospital dealing with Crohn’s disease and COVID. Hospitalised with her husband. She was dismissed after days of immense pain without visitors, after her hair fell out and her considerable weight loss. She used to be a hairdresser with a thriving small business.
This private suffering is in stark contrast to the media outpouring of celebrity gush when Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were diagnosed in March 2020. Back then, COVID was considered untamed but now surely our vaccinations will kick in, especially if we’re boosted, right? There are so many of us triple vaccinated, including myself, there’s no denial of science here. However, what’s concerning is the sense of abandonment, or dare I say, neglect, for the masses who are expected to ‘soldier on’ now that we’re ‘triple vaxxed’. It’s as if the unspoken rule is, ‘we’ve armed you, get out there and get on with it’.
But there are still so many questions, including what is considered a mild case of COVID? Why does the impact of COVID