One more reason

Wait till after breakfast to Google it

Show this editorial to anybody you know who still hasn’t gone to get the jab. If this doesn’t do it, then their minds can’t be changed.

Doubtless you’ve heard of Aaron Rodgers, and his unvaccinated status. He’s a quarterback of note for a professional football team of even greater note. And for the last few weeks, he’s been in all the news — and we don’t just mean the Sports section.

The athlete has even made serious commentary (that is, newspaper commentary) because he seemed to lead people to believe he’d already been vaccinated months ago, until the press found out he wasn’t. Then he had to sit out a game when he tested positive for covid-19.

The drama has been going on for weeks. See ESPN for updates.

But something happened this past week involving his situation. He discussed a foot ailment on some show, and told the host that he had something called “covid toe.” There are those who think he was joking. There are those (like reporters at The Wall Street Journal) who took the news seriously enough to write an entire article about it. Later, he told the press he had a fracture. So another case in not knowing what to believe with this guy.

There are those of us who aren’t Green Bay Packers fans, and think Aaron Rodgers has too many commercials, and would rather talk about what happened to the Cowboys against the Chiefs?

But this “covid toe.” Is that a joke? Apparently it isn’t. Apparently this ailment exists. Apparently it’s not something you want to Google before breakfast.

Whether Aaron Rodgers has it or not, it’s certainly a thing.

The doctors call covid toe either “pernio” or “chilblains” in their medical books. It can affect young people. Symptoms include burning, pain, splotches, itching, lesions, and . . . it could turn your toes purple. They say it’s incredibly painful to wear shoes during the week(s) you have symptoms. Also, cold weather makes it worse. You can imagine the pain you’d have on an open football field in Green Bay in December. Or walking across a Walmart parking lot on a cold December morning in Arkansas.

The American Academy of Dermatology says covid toe can affect fingers, too. And although most cases only last a week or so, “some patients have covid toes for months.”

The best way to prevent covid toe is . . . .

To be vaccinated.

One more reason to protect yourself with a vaccination against covid-19. There are those of us who’d like to walk the dog on these cold mornings without screaming in pain.

Show this editorial to the naysayers. Perhaps they’d rather say nay to covid toe instead.