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If you were blessed enough to avoid being closely affected when COVID-19 first brought the nation to its knees last winter, there’s a good chance that your degree of separation from the virus is steadily decreasing as more people you know are being infected with the virus.
When a close loved one has been diagnosed with COVID, it can be a frightening experience. COVID itself is a very trying illness, which can result in difficulty breathing among other terrifying symptoms. It can also cause serious complications that may result in death, which makes the experience even more stressful. Even worse, the nature of this highly isolating virus doesn’t make it particularly easy to be there for the people you love in a way that you normally would.
If COVID has hit close to home recently and you’re wondering how you can support your loved one through the next few weeks, which may be some extremely challenging ones, keep reading.
Frequent check-ins
The first thing that you can do is to make it your business to check in with them frequently. Long days of working remotely and juggling other responsibilities can sometimes result in going days without speaking to loved ones who live outside of our household. Consider setting a reminder on your phone to check-in with the infirmed person at least once a day. If it appears that they are having a particularly rough time, you may want to check in periodically throughout each day. This is especially important if the loved one happens to live alone and is forced to brave this illness in solitude.
