We all should just unite in a communal agreement that if you must cough, cough. If your nose is irritated and you must sneeze, do so. If your throat is scratchy, clear it; allow for a safe space to clear our respiratory passages.
BY SHARLENE EDWARDS, MPH, RN, CIC, Health & Wellness Coach
I sit down in the chair at the nail salon to enjoy an hour of much-needed self-care. As always, my nail technician and I are donned with masks, have sanitized our hands, and are ready for our time together. Feeling relaxed and ready to take in this moment to myself, I suddenly feel a creep in my throat; it’s an irritation, an itch, a familiar prickliness.
I immediately panicked because I know that this discomfort in my throat will only be relieved with a slight cough. I begin to swallow hard, hoping that will be enough to wash the feeling away; it doesn’t work. More panic.
The salon is full of women looking to enjoy their moment away from everyday life. I dare not interrupt that with a cough that will remind them that outside there is still a cloud of COVID-19 hanging over all of us. More swallowing.
I clear my throat, take a sip of water, think about sunshine and rainbows. I do any and everything to stop myself from coughing in public. I am willing to sacrifice my discomfort to maintain the peace. I absorb every moment of uneasiness that continues to rise in my throat; I am taking one for the team. An irritated thought slinks into my head, “when will we cough again?”
We’ve all seen the memes and funny TikTok videos poking fun at the now taboo act of coughing in public. It’s all fun and games until you too have to cough in public until you too are faced with the decision “to cough or not to cough.”
Over the last two years, we’ve been quickly conditioned into suspicion and paranoia anytime we hear a cough or sneeze. It paralyzed us in the thought that COVID-19 is lurking at every cough or cleared throat.
When will we cough again? When will we be able to just adjust to a random cough or sneeze, with public etiquette of course, and not be subjected to the stares of judgment that perhaps we are the next Typhoid Mary? As uncomfortable as I was holding in my cough for fear of being ostracized, I can’t say that I would not have cast a suspicious side-eye if the tables were turned.
We all should just unite in a communal agreement that if you must cough, cough. If your nose is irritated and you must sneeze, do so. If your throat is scratchy, clear it; allow for a safe space to clear our respiratory passages.
These are all natural processes that help us adjust to our surrounding environments. Let’s agree to release the chokehold we have held on each other. COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, so let’s adjust and carry on.
Sharlene Edwards, aka Nurse Shar, is a public health practitioner and community advocate with a master’s degree in public health epidemiology. For more blog posts, visit www.mybetterlivingllc.com.
