They havenât updated the exposure list for four days:
Two years of everyone in the state carefully logging their movements on the Covid tracking app, and they just abandon it as soon as reality becomes embarrassing.
Still no updates to the exposure site list since the 28th. For all I know, there could be dozens of cases in Beaconsfield. RATs and N95s still unavailable.
I could probably get something via Amazon, but (1) itâd take weeks to get here, and (2) Iâd have to go into Beaconsfield to collect it anyway. They donât deliver out here.
Journal of the Corona Year â Ermahgerd Omicron!
Friday, 12/24
The office is closed because the banks are closed. I wake up feeling good. I havenât had a three-day weekend in awhile. I go to the Film Forum to see âNights of Cabiria.â Only scattered people were in the theater.
Delays with the subway and having to rush puts me in a bad mood.
Normally I eat rather light, but this is Christmas eve. I put together a home-made pizza. I didnât enjoy it.
Saturday, 12/25
Iâm still in a bad mood. Iâm not angry or depressed, but Iâm unable to find joy in anything.
I have no plans to engage in the economy this day. I go for a long walk and call people on the phone. In the afternoon I continue stripping layers of paint of the front door frame.
I make what would be called âcomfort foodâ for dinner. Itâs nothing to be proud of, but I was looking forward to it. It was disappointing and made me feel a bit sick.
Sunday, 12/26
I do laundry and go to Zabarâs. Zabarâs was too crowded, in my opinion, for the current omicron situation. I wasnât too worried. I was wearing my lucky mask.
That afternoon I work with paint stripper and danish oil. I make pasta for dinner with the left-over mushrooms, onion and tomatoes for the pizza.
In the evening I find I have a sore throat and my right nostril is stuffy. I also feel a bit internally sick. Is this caused by chemicals I was working with and the dinner I ate?
I go to bed feeling, for want of a better description, weird. At one point during the night I wake up and ask myself âam I dead?â I was not dead so I went back to sleep.
Monday, 12/27
I wake up in the morning exhausted. The sore throat is diminished and the stuffiness has moved to the left nostril.
At work I log into my computer and find a lengthy email has been sent to every employee over the weekend. It describes the companyâs new COVID-19 policies. It was sent mainly due to new state rules that came into effect: we need to show proof of vaccination, and people working in an office now have to wear a mask all-day.
Behaviors donât change dramatically. One person actually does start wearing a mask at her desk. Most people, however, do begin wearing masks when they get up from their desks or meet in offices. Thatâs a positive step. No one is enforcing he mask wearing rule.
Some people are returning to work after isolating with COVID-19. A few other people have now started isolating. Omicron is everywhere.
Aside from feeling tired all day, there is not much about my health to report.
Tuesday, 12/28
I wake up feeling better than yesterday. Still a bit tired, but better.
In the early afternoon, as if a switch has been thrown, all my previous symptoms disappeared. Suddenly I have a dry cough. This is the classic symptom for COVID-19.
Although I still have my sense of smell, I canât deny it â there is a slight possibility I might just have COVID-19. I resolve to get tested. I surely canât have the disease, but it would be good to get used to being tested. To learn the routine and find where the most convenient testing centers are.
I look on the NYC COVID-19 website for near-by testing locations. They seem to be run by labs with funny names. Who do I trust?
I ask some co-workers who should know, if they can recommend convenient places to get tested. They cannot. What is convenient for them is not convenient for me.
After work I check for home test kits. They are unavailable.
I replenish my food supplies just in case I need to isolate in the near future. Plenty of household items are available during this latest national panic, but no test kits.
The dry cough is a bit frightening. It seems so minor, but itâs clear there is something happening deep down in the trachea. So deep that coughing canât touch it.
Wednesday, 12/29
I wake up with the dry cough, but itâs not quite as strong as the day before. I decide to go to work and get tested during the day. There are better testing options in Lower Manhattan than in Bay Ridge.
While waiting for the train to go uptown from the 95th Street terminal, a homeless man wanders onto the train. He has no mask and is coughing freely into the air. It is the same sounding cough as I have. I and a few other people move to the car.
Around 10:00 my symptoms change drastically again. The dry cough disappears and instead I suddenly have a profusely running nose.
In a round-about way I find a near-by testing center at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. While Iâm standing in line I scan a QR code and fill-out the appropriate paperwork on my iPhone. I hear the someone else told the results will be received in one to four days. Thatâs not convenient but the PCR test is more accurate, so I suppose thatâs the best I can do.
I return to work. It sounds like half the people on the floor are coughing or sneezing. Most people have given up wearing masks as they walk around the office.
As I walk to my apartment that evening I hear coughing behind various doors.
Thursday 12/30
Nose still running, but the fatigue is gone.
The subway and office is mostly empty because of the coming long weekend. So whatever I have I can keep to myself.
On my way home I pick up more supplies. Making use of my time before I receive my test results.
As soon as I walk in my front door, an email with my test results arrives. My âout of rangeâ test is âpositive.â I quickly read a few websites to make sure I know what that means.
I guess I wonât be seeing âI Know Where Iâm Goingâ this weekend.
Friday 12/31
The office is closed because the banks are closed. I wake up in the morning feeling better than I had for the past week.
I write a few emails to HR and to my immediate co-workers about my positive test.
Around noon I suddenly have a stuffy nose and aching shoulders. This lasts for a couple of hours. The drastic change of the symptoms is surprising.
I spend most of the day calling people I know to explain my experiences, and to encourage them to get tested if necessary.
Regarding the infection â I feel a combination of relief that itâs finally happened, and a bit of shame that I didnât do more to avoid it. The âslow the spreadâ project worked in my case â I delayed catching the disease by almost two years, which gave enough time for me to take a vaccine that was developed. I hate to think what this would have been like if I wasnât vaccinated.
Useful data, but take care of yourself first and foremost!
Also, +1 for Nights of Cabiria, a secret fav of mine!
Healthy, double-vaccinated personâs account of âmildâ Covid:
Given the shortage of tests, thatâs probably an underestimate.
Par Avion is the closest thing to a Tasmanian airline. Small planes, tourist and supply flights to the islands and mountains, charter flights, etc.
â
On the original vax schedule, my booster was due next month.
Now, thanks to the hastily panic-revised schedule, it was due a month ago.
So, go to the website to look at vaxxing options.
There are no vaccinations available in Beaconsfield. The nearest vax clinic is Exeter, 20km south. But, after phoning and waiting on hold for some time, I discover that they arenât accepting any new patients.
So, keep heading south, and find an appointment at Legana. Which is so close to Launceston that itâs virtually a suburb. And the earliest available appointment is a month away.
Oh, well. At least I wonât have to go into Launceston CBD.
âActressâ? She sounds like a fancy cocktail.
Ha! Too bad he got vaxxed & boosted.
And his true last name is Pugh. Why doesnât he want to use his last name professionally, is he ashamed of it?
âŠbecause they have already âsucceededâ at introducing uncontrolled Covid across the entire state. They arenât even really pretending to try to reduce spread at this point.
Every Tasmanian Covid casualty from here on was harmed by deliberate state action.
He must be djoking!