What it is likely going to sustain this COVID crisis is going to be how OTHER people HELP each other from spreading this disease. I don’t think THAT will happen.
Waiting for the test results
A couple of days ago in afternoon, my wife called at work to let me know someone close to our family bubble tested positive for COVID-19 – specifically somebody who was close to my daughter and me last week. There are no hard feelings with that person, as we know COVID has a high infection rate, and even if we did everything to prevent GIVING the virus, we still can GET this virus by virtue of it spreading around unknowingly.
Then again, nothing rules out the fact that we were not already the people passing the virus to the person who tested positive (in the event we are indeed infected)… after all, COVID affects each person differently, and society – especially in USA – has reached “COVID fatigue,” and people’s guard continues to be put down – all of us – at some point or another, and that means more vectors out there circulating, and mathematically that increases the chance of exposure, even if we take precautions to avoid it. Many of those possible vectors knowingly chose not to get out of circulation and contribute to the continued spread of the disease.
Fortunately, in my current place of work I was allowed to leave the office immediately as a prevention from being a possible vector of COVID spread, and I got the “go ahead” for the next available testing… which was yesterday morning (the very next available time). Fortunately, neither person in my family have displayed any obvious strenuous symptoms – yet. Though I have not been feeling my best, I got a dull headache, maybe feeling a bit warmer than usual, and today my daughter was not being her usual chirpy self, though she was in a pleasant mood. Also, I have been feeling a bit more sluggish than usual. It might be the hypochondrial anxiety, but I will know for sure tomorrow when the test results post. They (the medical personnel) told me it will take about three days.
© Marcelo Baqueroalvarez / HLC | Getting my drive-through COVID-19 test - dashcam screen capture – JAN 2021 VA, USA
Getting my COVID test
It is actually interesting how difficult is to actually get a COVID-19 test under normal circumstances. I was able to get it for free because of my day job, and because under those guidelines my daughter and I are considered “close contacts.” And still will take three days to get the results. However, my wife was not considered a close contact… yeah… apparently there is some logic to that – which is fully escaping my understanding. So, she would not “need to test,” or technically could still be going to work as usual. Now keep in mind, that I share the same bed with my wife. Which means, if I am indeed infected, then she is likely infected.
But what do I know… I mean, at the time I’m typing this USA has 22,864,103 cases resulting in 381,513 deaths. Yesterday late evening we were at 22,835,071 confirmed cases with 380,555 resulting deaths…. quick math means 29,032 cases in less than 12 hours and 958 deaths… who knows how many we will reach by the end of today… yeah, we seem to have this pandemic well under control (I wonder if that came as sarcastic). In either case, we chose to actually pay for a test for my wife Alicia, as abundance of caution and peace of mind. The test will cost $129.oo in a pharmacy, and we’ll find out if it comes positive or negative. I’ll be very curious to see what will be the reaction if she is indeed positive? I think if anything this could help the collective as a data point to help improve the current guidelines. I always prefer to err on the side of caution.
Fortunately, although she was not authorized to take a free test, she did get authorization to telework, and she’s actually working right behind me as we speak. And that is probably a good idea, gain, to err on the side of caution. She was also feeling a bit off these days. I expect to make a follow up rant based on the results of the exam. Interestingly enough, I just got my first dose of the COVID vaccine a few days ago (you can see that rant posted in this site), so I am not sure if this is helping — or if there is a battle ensuing inside my body.
At least my test path was very straight forward. I drove to the hospital, they took my info in one of these outdoor tents, where I was able to stay in my vehicle at all times. Then one of the medical personnel came to my window in full hazmat gear to swab my nose. Cumulative it took just a few of minutes to gather my nose “sample.” And now I wait. The cover picture is me getting my nose swabbed… yes, I know it is overexposed AF… it is just a screen cap from my dash camera. It does look like an angel’s arm waking me up to the world… in reality it was a cotton swab in the back of my nose.
So now what?
Well, it is frustrating because I do have a lot of things I needed to do at work. Unfortunately, I do not have all the computer access and software at home for what I do for a living. Even if I test negative, I am still not able to return at least until next week, so we’ll see. I won’t be bored though… there is always a lot of stuff my “to do list” over here – some that stuff is overdue #silverlining. Fortunately, my team at work – they are all fantastic, so I know the shop is in good hands. If my test actually returns positive, then I am essentially required to be here for at least 14 days and re-test – even if I don’t actually get bad symptoms from it. Again, I am feeling a headache, similar to the one I had 15 minutes after my vaccination.
Somebody told me that this headache could have meant that I was already fighting the disease back then. Goodness, I hope that is not the case. I do wear the mask, and stay at a safe distance from people, but as I ranted before, those are guidelines are designed to minimize the chance of infection. The only 100% mitigation is staying inside our bubbles, and that have been proven impossible at all levels as the disease runs wild.
All I can do now is get myself and my family out of circulation to the highest extent possible, and ensure that if we are indeed infected, we will prevent others from getting whatever we’ve gotten – even if we are asymptomatic. We are fortunate enough to be able to order groceries delivered to our door, but I would be remiss if I didn’t realize that this is not an option for everybody out there.
Which goes to my first rant, the more we wash our hands and put a mask, the more we can minimize the infection – to help each other. When we try to prevent the spread of this disease, we don’t do it just for ourselves, we do it for others who might not be as fortunate as we are. It is my firm conviction… I rather not have anybody have a bad or potential catastrophic experience because I chose not to exercise whatever control I have to prevent further spread. HLC