Corona virus, what's different for you.

Decided to get screening today. Went to a testing center, it took about an hour. Most of that hour was waiting for my turn. You pull in, wait in line in your car. One person handed a sheet you fill in, then hand in when it's your turn. Once it was your turn, it only took 2-3 minutes. They checked your sheet, confirmed the info, then gave you another sheet with a sticker that has and identification number with a QR code, plus the website to check in a few days.

Then someone sticks a swab up your nose and rubs it around for a bit. That was not pleasant.

I don't think the wait was bad, and probably couldn't go quicker, there were about 30-35 cars in front of me. At least half had 2-3 people in them, One was a minivan that looked like it had 5-6 in it. So about 50-60 people being tested. They were doing 2 cars at a time, so about 1 minute or so total for each.

One of my coworkers tested positive so I’m going to go get tested.

I hope you test positive. Uh, that is, that you are positively negative. Yeah, that's what I want to say...

Oh yeah, I got my results back yesterday. Well, the results were available online.

Specimen A: SARS-COV-2: Not Detected

Yay!?

Went to an eye doctor appointment. Had to call from the parking lot so they could let em know when it was clear to come in. Checked my temp - I guess I'm okay. Everybody had masks. The doc dyed his hair since my Feb visit, from white to black. My favorite tech was still there so she's okay.

Yay for now. But it means you should probably lie low in anticipation of the second wave.

My sister's ex husband took my nephew (his son) to the trampoline park that just reopened. He even took his mom, and my nephew's grandmother with him on monday. We got pictures.

Today the fever and soar throat started. Which is bad because he is already been at the house with my neice and my sister and her new husband. The new husband is in his fifties and is a VP and works from home. He has great health insurance from AT&T so he has a decent chance of not losing everything if he gets sick. My sister is in a different position because she is in charge of where she works. If she gets massively ill her people just are not reliable to take over. Luckily they are very limited on activities because they are still mainly closed.

My parents cannot take the niece off their hands because they are in their seventies and have to take care of my grandmother and grandfather. Plus my mother is going to be hurt because she cannot go see them if they are infected. My nephew's daddy is not liked, and this irresponsibility is going to mean my parents cannot see their grandkid that is not from him. As for the other side if my nephew has it from going to the park, his grandmother and father have it too. That could kill his grandmother on the other side, and I will refrain from my opinion on his dad as I cannot wish death on someone he loves. His dad's mom has been a decent person and looked out for the family remaining civil when his dad was raging.

This is just a huge mess that will do nothing but agitate relations because of the stupidity. One of the reasons the dad took him to the park was because my sister was telling him no because it is indoors and a lot of breathing and she wanted to wait a while longer to see what happens. Hopefully it is nothing, ut it means at least a week without the grandkids for my parents, and we were having some nice family time with my nephew because he was not in school.

I guess if my sister needs help I will have to go expose myself. I figured this would be the vector it came into the family, if it is COVID. I wish you could chose who gets taken. if it is a matter of someone going in the family let it be me or my grandparents.

I've been working ever since the pandemic started, of the 28 guys I work with, I've been one of 4-5 that have been doing so. We had 8 furloughed, 2 are coming back in the next two weeks. My work puts me in contact with our clients on a daily basis. Anywhere from 1 or 2 a day, maybe 4 at the most. So not too many people. But I wanted to get tested since I do see my mom and sister pretty much every week, and we have been avoiding contact for the last three or so months. So it was more of a concern of getting them infected than anything else.

One thing I will say, my work has been amazing on how well we are taken care of, both with our safety and with our benefits and pay as well.

So I went today. Friends had told me that the process would be uncomfortable and that the swab would burn when they did it. They weren't wrong, but that's not an accurate description. If you've ever heard a piece of earthmoving equipment dragging a large hunk of metal over gravel, that's what it felt like. They also swab both your nostrils not just one. Hitting the back of your sinuses with the swab isn't all that bad or noticeable. Just the trip to get there is awful. I also heard three words I'd never thought I'd ever hear, “Relax your nose.” That was when she was swabbing the first nostril.

It'll probably be a week before I get my results.

The problem there is that minutes after you were tested, you could have been infected. What you accomplished was a 'spot check', nothing more. For some, it's peace of mind, I guess. You'll know if you've got the rona when you get sick. I think what people should be doing is getting tested for antibodies- that would provide a real measure of security or insecurity. If you've got 'em, you are essentially immune until the next strain/mutation. If not, you remain vulnerable to infection.

Has this changed? Last I'd read was that scientists were unsure the antibodies would prevent infection or reinfection. Please provide a link if you've read that this has now a fact.

Seriously, this isn't a mocking post. I'm certain I'm not the only person who would like to read the new study.

How do you relax your nose? Isn't your nose always relaxed? When is it tensed to begin with?

I realize that. Will getting the swab done, I thought if that. I could have gotten infected by the person taking my sample. I'm still remaining careful all the time. Hopefully I don't get sick from this now or anytime later on.

To me it felt more like getting water all the way up my nose. I was also told to relax my nose.

okay now I'll have to find a youtube tutorial on nose relaxing!

I'm guessing people see that humongous swab coming at them and they tense up. Think of the difference between inhaling normally and trying to inhale when you've got a stuffy nose.

It's actually worse than that. You could have already been infected, though not for long, and there wasn't yet enough viral load for the test to detect. (And that's not even taking into account false negatives.)

Probably. The evidence available so far tends to indicate that that is most likely the case for the vast majority of people. But there is no really clear indication either way at this point.

There are multiple videos of how to stick a nail into your nose that probably have some good instructions.

Well, it turns out the nephew only has strep throat. I guess yay! I remember the days of getting throat infections from irritation. Not fun at all. Mine always used to spread into bronchitus. So glad I grew out of that bullshit and soar throats in general.

So I guess the family is not infected yet, but florida seems to be having a resurgence. So much for it not liking horribly hot and sunny weather. However, we were having a lot of cloudy rainy weather up until a week ago.

The pool has opened up again. Leave it to the old people to screw things up. One person decided they would go swimming at 9:30 PM because no one else would be there and they would not spread anything to the others. They were so quiet and calm that they did not trigger the motion or sound sensors on the video cameras and motion sensors. So there was no alert anyone was even in the pool. But the old people warning system of rule breaking knew they were there and reported them. So the HOA had to go down and tell the person they cannot swim at that time. I get there are a couple of houses right behind the pool where they do not want splashing and shouting after hours. But if you are so quiet and calm you don't set off the motion sensors and you are trying to avoid the crowds, what the fuck is the problem?

I still do not get the confine everyone to daytime hours so we all have to be in a crowd rules. Why not encourage nighttime shopping while people are laid off? You create some new jobs, you alleviate some daytime crowding, and it works within the social distancing and cleaning regiment.

Still, i am hoping family days will happen again this week as the nephew becomes less ill.

Night time shopping might benefit a few people but not really a lot of old people....most of them have to up and out of bed by 5:00 AM

I just got the call and I’m negative!

Just went to the deli for only the second time since this started - trying to get back out there. I used my sleeve over my hand to grip the door pull. On the way home I had a nose itch, and unconsciously used my same sleeve to rub it. So I'm probably gonna die now.

Put gas in the car for the first time since February too!

wow! You are livin' on the edge! Your middle name must be "Adventure"!

okay what's different is coronapalooza is winding down here in beautiful Augusta Georgia. How do I know this? Because the TRAFFIC is back!
Rush hour isn't back to full force but it's ratcheting up. Yes, great to see way more people working, but damn feeling like The Omega Man on the road was pretty cool while it lasted!

Idiots out in the streets doesn't mean the virus is gone, just FYI.

Still, humanity had a good run.

I didn't say COVID was gone completely. "Coronapalooza" is the overall craziness and reaction to COVID rather than the virus itself. And apparently a lot of "idiots" have bills to pay and are back to work. Not everyone can work from home.

Some practical advice from an epidemiologist:


Risk ranking of everyday activities for COVID-19, according to an infectious-disease expert

Excellent article. I especially like the "3 D's" as a simple and efficient way of reducing risk.

Latest comments now that things are getting back to 'normal.'

I'm gradually becoming more concerned about the chemical bath everything is taking every five minutes these days than I am about the virus. Went out to lunch today in San Diego (at work), and the table top smelled of some cleaner and was making the wood adhere to my skin. I didn't even use my bottom napkin- whatever that stuff was, I didn't want it touching my face.

Also don't like the way cashiers are treating gloves. MY guess is that bare-handed people are periodically washing or sanitizing their hands, but slap some gloves on, and all that goes out the window. Then they can wear the gloves for an entire shift, never change 'em, but hey, it's all good because they're wearing gloves, right?

Masks? Read one article about a 19 year old supermarket cashier giving herself pleurisy because she was wearing the same goddamn mask day in, day out for hours at a time and never changed it out or washed it. Truth or fiction? You be the judge, but we all know these people are 'out there.'

Last but not least: I knew it wasn't going to last, but I sure enjoyed it while it did: Lack. Of. Traffic.

The gloves are for their protection, not the customer's. You're putting them at risk by your choice. Stay home if you don't like the odds.