COVID-19 hit differently the second time.
Strengthened by antibodies gained during an initial infection, what felt like a full frontal attack on my immune system in January was reduced to a bad cold in April.
But just four months after first contracting the virus, the text from ACT Health declaring 'positive' was still a shock.
A first bout, and two weeks drifting through anti-vaccine protests without a second, left me feeling cavalier.
Three doses and natural immunity would surely buy me more time, and COVID-19 would soon be treated like any other virus. Then the headache returned, the sore throat, the brainfog.
For the first time, food lost its taste.
My friends' phones began buzzing, ACT Health warning they had contracted the virus. For almost all, it was their first dance with the pangolin's curse.
For me, it was a mild trip down memory lane.
A PCR test soon confirmed a second infection, and a fourth round of isolation since December.
It shouldn't be surprising.
We're now six months on from Omicron's hostile Christmas takeover, enough time for immunity to wane.
Delta might be more lethal, but its milder replacement is canny, slipping more easily past protections built by vaccines and prior infection.
READ MORE:
In an era where COVID-19 is everywhere, working out where I got it is futile. An entire territory's health system no longer traces your last fourteen days to the step.
I'm one of four journalists to have tested positive since reporting from the Prime Minister's bus. A friend I'd seen had hosted a positive guest the night before. Two others were struck down by a mystery bug.
That's not to mention the strangers and colleagues I'd interacted with who may have unwittingly carried it.
Like thousands of Australians, I first contracted the virus interstate while travelling over New Year, a question not asked in ACT Health's post-diagnosis survey.
The fact this case was a reinfection has, as far as the government is concerned, drifted into the wind.
Finn McHugh
Finn McHugh has been federal political reporter for The Canberra Times since July 2021. He joined the Canberra Press Gallery in 2019 where he was executive producer of Sky News's AM Agenda, before joining NCA NewsWire as a federal political reporter. He has previously interned at the Kuwait Times.
Finn McHugh has been federal political reporter for The Canberra Times since July 2021. He joined the Canberra Press Gallery in 2019 where he was executive producer of Sky News's AM Agenda, before joining NCA NewsWire as a federal political reporter. He has previously interned at the Kuwait Times.
