Jun. 15th, 2022 04:58 pm
post-COVID
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muckefuckSo if you'd told me two years ago that my response to eventually testing positive for COVID-19 would have been a shrug of resignation, I'm not sure how I would have responded. At the time, I was confident that we'd ultimately get the upper hand over the disease but I was still prey to a lot of anxiety over it. Even earlier this year, fully vaxxed and boosted, I had plenty of worry. (I chose not to attend my sister's 50th birthday in no small part due to fear of transmission on airplanes and in airports.)
Thanks to the vaccine, my experience was (like many other's) little worse than a cold. I had one particularly bad day at the onset with a fever close to 103℉ followed by two days of feeling just regular bad and since then it's been pretty much just coasting. I still don't feel 100% but I'm not sure at this point how much of that is a combination of things like allergies, the heat wave we're in, and struggling a bit to get my sleep schedule back after over a week of remote work.
I'm still ambivalent about the CDC's guidelines which basically amount to "if it's been ten days and you're asymptomatic we're just gonna assume you're over it". After months and months of admonitions to do all we could not to spread the virus, this feels a bit like giving in. I'd feel better if I'd tested negative, but now the information I'm getting is that the chance of a false positive is too great to make further testing worthwhile--again, quite the reversal from earlier messaging.
When I told folks I'd been with over Memorial Day weekend, the most common response was "Furball, right?" Of course it's impossible to say with any certainty. From the Welcome Party that Thursday to Sidetrack on Mem Day itself, I was at a lot of large gatherings with minimal masking this weekend so there was no shortage of opportunities. Moreover, it's moot at this point; I knew from the onset that going out during a time of high community transmission was risky and I don't know that I would have stayed in even if I'd known with certainty that I'd catch the virus. So no regrets.
Was I bummed to have to cancel so many events (including a concert I'd been given free tickets for, my cocktail night, and a friend's birthday)? Of course. It felt especially frustrating that just as the social season was really picking up and I was getting the nourishment my extrovert spirit needs we had to suddenly slam on the brakes. But--as BB pointed out--it's still early summer, there's lots more to come that I will be able to participate in.
Speaking of BB, I was at first very disappointed by the prospect of not seeing him before he left town. Then I began to think that maybe this wasn't such a bad thing, as it would give us a longer break. Now it looks like I'll be able to see him after all (he and our mutual buddy invited me to dinner with them tomorrow) and I feel fairly neutral about it. The important thing to me was that after initially being kind of shitty about me getting sick he eventually came around.
Crucially, though, I wasn't focussed on that because I had enough other friends get in touch, many of whom with very generous with their offers. At least a half dozen offered to do errands for me (I let one pair bring me back dinner from H Mart and another friend get my prescriptions for me) and others kept in touch to check on my progress. And all that's without making any sort of public announcement, just mentioning my status in passing.
Who I feel worse for is poorclintswan, who most definitely got the virus from me and is now stuck in isolation through the end of the week. He started isolating right after I tested positive so in total that'll make at least two weeks for him. And though he never felt as punk as I did at the beginning, he's suffering loss of taste, and I'd take a day or two of fever over that any day of the week. He's not resentful toward me (I asked if he wanted me to go into strict isolation and he said no), which is good, but I think that may get tested if I start going out and having fun tomorrow without him.
Thanks to the vaccine, my experience was (like many other's) little worse than a cold. I had one particularly bad day at the onset with a fever close to 103℉ followed by two days of feeling just regular bad and since then it's been pretty much just coasting. I still don't feel 100% but I'm not sure at this point how much of that is a combination of things like allergies, the heat wave we're in, and struggling a bit to get my sleep schedule back after over a week of remote work.
I'm still ambivalent about the CDC's guidelines which basically amount to "if it's been ten days and you're asymptomatic we're just gonna assume you're over it". After months and months of admonitions to do all we could not to spread the virus, this feels a bit like giving in. I'd feel better if I'd tested negative, but now the information I'm getting is that the chance of a false positive is too great to make further testing worthwhile--again, quite the reversal from earlier messaging.
When I told folks I'd been with over Memorial Day weekend, the most common response was "Furball, right?" Of course it's impossible to say with any certainty. From the Welcome Party that Thursday to Sidetrack on Mem Day itself, I was at a lot of large gatherings with minimal masking this weekend so there was no shortage of opportunities. Moreover, it's moot at this point; I knew from the onset that going out during a time of high community transmission was risky and I don't know that I would have stayed in even if I'd known with certainty that I'd catch the virus. So no regrets.
Was I bummed to have to cancel so many events (including a concert I'd been given free tickets for, my cocktail night, and a friend's birthday)? Of course. It felt especially frustrating that just as the social season was really picking up and I was getting the nourishment my extrovert spirit needs we had to suddenly slam on the brakes. But--as BB pointed out--it's still early summer, there's lots more to come that I will be able to participate in.
Speaking of BB, I was at first very disappointed by the prospect of not seeing him before he left town. Then I began to think that maybe this wasn't such a bad thing, as it would give us a longer break. Now it looks like I'll be able to see him after all (he and our mutual buddy invited me to dinner with them tomorrow) and I feel fairly neutral about it. The important thing to me was that after initially being kind of shitty about me getting sick he eventually came around.
Crucially, though, I wasn't focussed on that because I had enough other friends get in touch, many of whom with very generous with their offers. At least a half dozen offered to do errands for me (I let one pair bring me back dinner from H Mart and another friend get my prescriptions for me) and others kept in touch to check on my progress. And all that's without making any sort of public announcement, just mentioning my status in passing.
Who I feel worse for is poor
clintswan, who most definitely got the virus from me and is now stuck in isolation through the end of the week. He started isolating right after I tested positive so in total that'll make at least two weeks for him. And though he never felt as punk as I did at the beginning, he's suffering loss of taste, and I'd take a day or two of fever over that any day of the week. He's not resentful toward me (I asked if he wanted me to go into strict isolation and he said no), which is good, but I think that may get tested if I start going out and having fun tomorrow without him.Tags: