It’s hard to believe, but there are still some people out there who don’t believe that COVID -19 is real — or, if it s real, that it isn’t a serious threat.

Well, I am here to attest that it is very real — and that it could easily be a serious threat to anyone whose health is otherwise compromised in any way. Even if you are young and healthy and strong, you do not want to catch it.

As you may have guessed, COVID finally caught up with me earlier this month. It is a very strange feeling to seemingly become the very thing you have sought to avoid for nearly three years.

My husband, Mike, came down with it first. He awoke one Monday morning feeling congested, feverish and exhausted. As soon as he told me that he felt sick, I got as far away from him as I could inside our home. I sent a message off to work, letting everyone know that I had potentially been exposed to an illness and that I would work from home that day in an effort to protect everyone else in the office.

Mike called off from work and slept the day away. As soon as he was able to get up and tolerate it, we performed a home COVID test that showed a positive result almost instantly. Despite our vaccinations and boosters and months of wearing masks, COVID had arrived in our home.

We both held out hope that I wouldn’t catch it from him. we were able to make arrangements for Mike to be isolated, away from myself and our cat. I went on about my day, checking on him by phone and doing my best to make sure he had everything he needed without getting too close.

Late that night, though, while I was still working at my desk I began to feel cold. By the time I stood up I had begun to shiver and shake. My head ached and I felt a little dizzy. Fifteen minutes later, another home test revealed that I had contracted COVID as well.

Th first full day of the illness was the worst for me. I couldn’t even work from home because I was shaking so hard that I couldn’t sit up in a chair. The fever led to wave after wave of chills. I hunkered down in bed and slept for hours on end.

Together, we stayed at home for the rest of that week, sipping on chicken noodle soup when we could muster the strength to get out of bed. We went through quite a few doses of cold and flu medicine. Fortunately, my brother, Larry, lives close by and was able to drop supplies off on our porch as we ran out of things — soup, Gatorade, medicine — all the basics.

Our symptoms were not identical. Once Mike began to recover, he improved steadily. I, on the other hand, seemed to get better and then a little bit worse, then better and then worse. I had one rough night of coughing and severe sinus congestion. We both slept at least three times as much as we normally do.

Gradually, though, we overcame the symptoms. With the exception of that first full day of illness, I was able to work from home. Mike returned to his actual workplace a couple of days before I did. When we got back out in public, we both wore masks, in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We were glad to be feeling better and to get out of the house.

We also learned some lessons from this experience. I had put off getting another booster shot when I was due. I didn’t want to feel sick or to have a sore arm on a nice summer day when I could be doing something. I’ll be getting that shot as soon as I am able after being sick.

We learned that even though we rarely take any medications, we should keep plenty of cold and flu medicine and fever reducers on hand.

And we learned that even with increased immunity, COVID is a nasty, indiscriminate illness. We both believe that we fared far better than we would have if we had not been vaccinated. But we also know we could have unwittingly exposed someone who had not gotten those shots, or someone who is vulnerable due to age or health concerns.

If you have not had COVID, count your lucky stars. If you have not been vaccinated, I urge you to change that. When I compare those shots to the actual infection, the shots were nothing.

Please, stay safe and well, and take COVID seriously.