Coronavirus

[lighter]

I have a fresh pot of ham and bean soup.....need to freeze... thanks for reminder.....
a few servings of curry.....
one serving of chicken with honey soy glaze.... I made 5 servings last night.....
the Boston Butt pork roast... OMG so yummy...... like pork belly, for real.  SO GOOD.  No takers but me so far...both girls are off of meat.  L likes seafood.  I think J surviving on tea and gf toast.  L said she MIGHT be up for pork tacos later.  Will see.

We have frozen gf coconut shrimp we can toss into the air fryer easily.  And gf chicken fingers.  And frozen Applegate breakfast sausages J normally eats when she's feeling hungry.  L likes blackbeans and rice and we have those things in the pantry, in case she wants it.  Another frozen gf pizza dough ball.  Lots of gf pastas on the shelf.  I'm making myself a hamburger later on salad greens, yummy.

Tomorrow fresh broccoli arrives, along with the COVID tests.  We have lots of canned and frozen veg...... the girls aren't channeling veggies right now, but if they do.......I'll be ready.

I wish I'd ordered mushrooms. L likes mushrooms. 

Lighter

[Hopalong]

What did your latest rapid test say, Lighter?
Have you and J gotten the diagnosis?

How are you feeling?

[lighter]

I ordered more tests....they arrive tomorrow.  I read the rapid home tests are more likely to return a false negative IF symptoms aren't showing up yet, whcih was the case with J.

I feel pretty much normal, so will test against tomorrow and see how that goes.

J feeling a bit worse.  L feeling a bit better.

Thanks for asking, Hops.  I sure hope I have Covid and this is as bad as it'll get.

Lighter

[sKePTiKal]

Sounds like you're holding down the fort with flair, Lighter! I hope you fare well, in light of the illness around you. Some do, ya know. I stopped asking why - even though I'd like to have confirmation or denial, either one - on what I theorize about the whole thing. I don't NEED it.

[lighter]

I tested Negative for Covid again this morning.

Whether I have antibodies or my immune system fought it off or I'm yet to show symptoms..... I don't know.  I really should be Positive considering proximity to the girls, I do the laundry, use the same bathrooms and L isn't wearing a mask around me anymore. I really thought I'd test Pos.

There don't seem to be any rules around this.  I feel like I'm in contagion limbo. 

I'm not sure whether to plan for the island trip or not.  I don't want to be Typhoid Mary.

Lighter

[Hopalong]

Lighter,
I don't remember what date you were planning to leave.

What to do for quarantine. Stay home and away from other people for at least 5 days (day 0 through day 5) after your last contact with a person who has COVID-19. The date of your exposure is considered day 0. Wear a well-fitting mask when around others at home, if possible.

COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation | CDC

So, if your Ds have Covid (per test results), then the calendar starts 5 days AFTER you are last with them (or after they have conclusively tested Negative).

I'm really happy you don't have it! Please hold a boundary in your own home that your child L, if she's confirmed with Covid, must wear an N95 when she leaves her own room. Likewise for J.

Motherhood doesn't mean an oblivious child gets to endanger your health and futue, right? Entitlement doesn't go that far...hopefully.

hugs
Hops

[lighter]

Thanks for all that info, Hops.

The girls are pretty much recovered.... there's still some messy symptoms, but the flu stuff is gone.

I plan to go to the lake and hang out at least 5 days on my own while packing for the trip.  I can test myself a time or two before meeting up with my brother or getting on a plane.

That's the plan.

Lighter

[sKePTiKal]

Glad to hear everyone's recovering! I'll bet you're resting easier now.

[lighter]

I'm feeling SO much better now the girls are healing up, Amber.

SO.
Much.
Better.

Yup yup yup.

Lighter

[lighter]

So the girls and I had the J&J vaccine.

L was miserable and very leaky with Covid. J less so, but likely experienced less exposure and load.

On the whole, it must not be THAT easy to get, bc I didn't get it and my brother's gf didn't get it when she cared for him during his bout withi Covid.  To be fair, he might not have still been contagious when she arrived.

I'd like to say..... I KNOW something more about Covid, for this experiene,  but I'm still very confused in all directions.

Lighter

[Twoapenny]

I think it's a very confusing virus, Lighter.  Almost everyone I know has had it now.  Most people I know are vaccinated.  I know of a family where the dad and son both had it, mum and daughter didn't get it - all living together at the same time.  One friend of mine works in a care home - almost everyone in there, whether staff or resident, has had it, some have had it twice.  He hasn't caught it.  Someone else I know lives alone, doesn't have visitors, his only social contact is a once weekly trip to the supermarket, he goes early in the morning when it's quiet, was wearing a mask from the outset as he has a medical background and knew it was risky, has followed all the hygiene protocols - and he got it.  It's very random.  I'm glad you've all got through it/over it xx

[lighter]

Hi, Tupp!  I hear all kinds of stories too.  Lots of different symptoms and puzzling details about how people get and avoid getting it. 

I'm so glad to see you on the board.

Lighter

[Hopalong]

Got my 4th shot today (Pfizer, 2nd booster). They're authorized for the elderly but advice is still forming, since scientist don't yet have the data to give firm directions about the timing.

Overall, if you're my age, with anything underlying, they say, go get it. BUT...there's also speculation about the right timing. A few say waiting MIGHT be better as the immune response could be stronger if you do. Others mention companies working like mad to develop a new shot (for this fall, hopefully) that will also hit variants -- and that if that's coming, perhaps it's better to not take Booster #2 now, for a stronger response in the fall. You'd take it along with your annual flu shot.

Basically, as the general advice as of now is...if you're old or immuncompromised (or both), go ahead. If you're not or your location is not "hot", you can likely wait.

I read until my eyes hurt and decided to go with the general advice and not try to pretend I have special insight. I firmly believe 90%+ of scientists are genuinely and honorably trying to save the most lives and offer the best advice that's currently possible. If they get some things wrong I won't take offense. Science goes up and down like a pendulum and it can take a while to land on certitude.

Meanwhile, glad I got it because it does lower the tension internally. I still mask with an N95 indoors in public spaces, even a restaurant today where I went for pickup and saw it packed with VERY old people from the ritzy retirement community next door....and hardly any of them were sporting a mask. Kind of shocked me, for that demographic. I lurked in a drafty foyer until my order was ready and beat it.

Friends are mostly cautious and not shopping, but there's always someone who's desperate to go spend in public and can't get into ordering online. Friends, not many but it's picking up, are watching forecasts and meeting outdoors when it's warm. I have a lunch coming up soon with my pal on the Trees Commission. She loves to talk about it and hooked me up with a grant for free native trees and shrubs for my property!

All in all, sounds like this spring and summer should be a lot less burdensome, covid-wise, than the last. My secret is: develop near-agoraphobia, simplifies a lot of decisions. Turns out I'm not alone in feeling like a cave-creature who keeps stepping out then scooting back in. Good to know it's not uncommon.

hugs
Hops

[Meh]

I'm so burnt out on Covid.

Since I have asthma, well I went to get the first shot which consisted of two doses. But now again I'm out of date I guess no longer covered.

I don't want to read the science and opinions. The thing is there is ENOUGH DOUBT sowed that it makes me feel uneasy.

The reports of people supposedly now having heart issues.

On one hand part of me wants to nihilistically just die of a heart attack in my sleep soon but I wouldn't be so lucky would I.

There is one guy who has been following it closely, him and his wife were both science teachers but that doesn't make them virologists. Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying is their names.

The covid camps left and right have turned into full-on cults in their own way. Bret Weinstien seems to think it's a point of pride and specialness for not getting the shot, he talks about it as though not getting the shots is sorting out the smart people from the dumb people. Bleh. That's why I'm so tired of it, it's become too much of an identity in itself.

Covid is kind of a quietly looming thing that sits in the back of my mind, in lots of people's minds and adds another layer of stress. People mentioning shots on Twitter and whatnot almost makes me wanna scream no matter what their opinion is.

All I can say is I think the CDC was once respected and now the reputation has gone to mud.

Then there was the Mary Poppins singing Nina Jankowicz. I said I was going to ignore and avoid politics. I'm really truly feeling it's a waste of my personal time.

But fk now I am wondering if I should go get another stupid shot.

There is some Disney documentary about Fauci.
There are movies against Fauci.

It's all sort of TOO much.

[Hopalong]

I found out a third friend has covid yesterday.
My city has gone from "yellow" up to "orange."
It's a slow surge here.

I don't fear a week's misery, I fear long covid.
So my decision's clear -- I'll take very shot they'll
give me.

I avoid the individuals who preach one political side
or another, and stick with scientists in major reputable
media. All put together, I feel I have a reasonable view,
and all the decent scientists always spell out that this
whole thing is EVOLVING. And people who can't bear
that uncertainty make it a belief system.

I guess in ways it is. I worked in medical center long
enough that I developed major respect for their minds,
their work, their intense concentration on finding facts
and developing answers. I can't fathom people dismissing
it.

Whatever's on social or other political media for attention
and argument's sake makes little sense to me.

Be well, Mouse. I have asthma too and old age and had a
stroke. I also couldn't be an anti-vaxxer if I tried. So glad
I never got polio or smallpox....

hugs
Hops