Testing, Testing

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

A couple months ago, I was talking to my brother in Oakland about our comparative states of affairs, and the fact that he’s a doctor made me ask him if he encountered many a COVID-19 patient, even though he’s a psychiatrist. He said that not only had he not dealt with anyone suffering from this deadly disease, but he didn’t even know anyone who KNEW anyone who was a victim. You’d think that with 1% of the US population having tested positive, and about 4% of that number having succumbed, at least one familiar name would come up. But then I realised at the same time that I didn’t know anyone directly either. That changed last week.

A couple who live in my building, whom I deeply respect and with whom I share some communal space, had to test, as the wife was having a rather persistent sore throat. They tested at home last Thursday, and the results came in on Saturday. Oddly, she tested negative, but the husband, with no symptoms at all, tested positive. Immediately, our whole building had to go into isolation, and I had to get myself tested as quickly as possible. The other building resident has been stuck in Wales since St. Patrick’s Day, so she was at least safe from this drama.

I got the test kit delivered to me Sunday, and on Monday morning, I administered. For those that haven’t experienced it yet, let me just say I must have done it correctly, as I almost gagged when I stuck the little tube down both sides of my throat, then cried in pain when I thrust it up each nostril. There are probably many things that are more annoying, enemas come to mind, but the sensation of having something that far up your nose is something I really don’t want to do again anytime soon.

I posted the entire kit later that same morning, and a flurry of emotions came over me, mostly guilt. I wondered how anything like that could happen to a couple who were about the most conscientious I had seen regarding what needed to be done in lockdown. They truly avoided leaving the building except in emergencies, worked from home, kept to themselves, even keeping distance from the woman’s mother, who lives nearby. I, on the other hand, was not frivolous, but could not keep myself indoors 24/7, plus I had a girlfriend only a few blocks away. I had to at least go for a walk every day. When the ruling came from Boris last month that it was OK for couples to create a bubble and have in-home visits, Maggie and I took advantage, but thankfully didn’t go overboard.

I was worrying that if I had tested positive, the couple, who celebrate their 3rd wedding anniversary next week, would have been totally within their rights to blame me for the turmoil they were going through. After all, it was me that, on July 4th, the day it was deemed OK for non-essential businesses to reopen, went right to the barber for a much needed haircut. The barber was trying to enforce the “no more than two” rule in his shop, but had to deal with one of his mates coming in maskless, and talking a mile a minute about racing cars or some other meaningless bullshit. I have never been so fearful in these last four months as I was in those 10 minutes or so that he stayed in the shop. Saliva flowing everywhere no doubt, but I wasn’t strong enough to say, “Excuse me, could you either shut the fuck up or get the fuck out!” It was also me that, only a day later, went to the neighbourhood pub where I normally do my quiz, and had a pint, something I hadn’t done since March 10th, to be exact. The enforcement there was actually very efficient, but it was still a public place with certain factors you couldn’t predict, and since there’s so much we don’t know about this disease, we couldn’t take anything for granted.

Whatever tension or self-inflicted guilt I had was dissipated Wednesday morning at about 10 AM, when in the space of about a minute, I received both a text and an email telling me I had tested negative. WHEW! It still baffles me why a couple who did everything right should be put through this, while I somehow avoided it. I’m just relieved, but to be safe, I’m staying in isolation for the 14 days prescribed, so it means I’m halfway done, and can resume what passed for normal next Thursday, the 23rd. In the meantime, still no symptoms from the husband or from me, and his wife’s sore throat is still around, but each day it gets a little better. I heave a big sigh of relief for both of them.

It was also a relief to the owner of the corner pub, as my testing negative meant he didn’t need to contact the authorities for “Track & Trace” on about 100 or so that had been in his pub from the day and time I was there until about 48 hours after. There has been talk of restarting the quiz, but the numbers have to keep going down, and more so than they have been. UK has one of the worst percentage rates between cases and deaths, close to 15%, but today the total deaths in UK was 66. Compare that to the US yesterday, with 65,370 new cases and 1413 deaths, and I guess we can feel ever so slightly better.

July 16th, 2020



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