Underlying Conditions

If we learned nothing else, over the past two years of Covid, it’s that people with underlying conditions are at greater risk for severe, possibly fatal, outcomes from contracting the flu.

In fact, the risks put entire nations on lockdown, and the restrictions descended upon us, like hail in a thunderstorm. In other words – not pleasant!

We were thrown off all our normal day-to-day activities, and literally forced into new, often unwelcomed, conditions and behaviors, both in and out of our homes and workplaces.

But here’s the odd part… Instead of addressing the ‘underlying conditions’, we focused on ‘Band-Aids’, and left the bigger problem unattended.

Question: When did ‘underlying conditions’ become our norm? It’s as though we’ve come to a place that accepts metabolic diseases, such as Type 2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Dementia, and Obesity, as… normal?

Surely not … yet the evidence is there before us… hidden in plain sight.

Maybe it’s time to focus our attention on what is behind most of these problems – poor lifestyle choices, lack of proper nutrition, inactivity.

Here’s a thought: Maybe spend, even a fraction of the amount of money spent on battling the coronavirus, (which used to be called – the common cold) on education instead – maybe, just maybe, we could drive down the number cases of those with underlying conditions.

Having underlying conditions should not be thought of as ‘normal’.

It's not too late – we can help our children and their future, if we make necessary changes – today.

Photo taken during the 'days of Covid', showing the result of 'underlying conditions'.

Address the root causes, and let's all do our part to fill our playgrounds with the sounds of children's laughter once again.

it's the right thing to do