Viral Loads O' Fun

 

Yup, well, predictably, I caught Covid from the Husband. I mean, really – unless you know someone’s likely infected you, everyone who’s vaxed and boostered thinks – oh, I’ve caught a cold. So you don’t mention it, until a couple of days later, when it becomes obvious. Which usually means: worse.

There’s no way to effectively disinfect a small house, especially in the winter, when it’s too cold to open windows for ventilation, you use a woodstove for heat which not only dries out the air but adds a fair amount of ash and dust to it, and the only full bathroom’s in the downstairs living area, one room amongst four very small rooms with no doors between them except on the bathroom. So even though I chased the husband upstairs to his bedroom and told him to stay there, by then he’d spread the virus through the downstairs pretty completely, and while I disinfected what I could – how do you disinfect a household, really? You can wipe horizontal surfaces and door handles and phones and tv controls and sinks and toilets and faucets and anything else the one with the plague may have touched, but what do you do about the afghans and throw pillows and piles of paper, and lampshades and sofa and cloth-covered chairs and CATS and stuff you don’t even think about that the pestilence coughed out by the culprit has landed on? Short of a bonfire of your entire house contents, that is. I considered it and rejected the idea.

So predictably, I caught it exactly three days later.

You don’t want to catch this virus. There were 36 hours of what felt like swallowing shards of glass, and nothing, NOTHING, touched that pain, western or Chinese. Not everyone has that symptom as badly – Husband says his sore throat lasted longer but wasn’t as bad, and an NSAID worked for him. Nothing worked for me, including Chinese meds, cursing, and cursing some more. I heard from a patient whose relative – vaxed if I remember correctly, but not boostered – had the glass shards sore throat for 10 days, during which time he couldn’t eat or drink and lost 10 pounds. I would have killed myself if it lasted that long. The other part of that misery is that the sore throat causes coughing which makes the sore throat worse which causes more coughing…and one couldn’t sleep, because too sore and coughing. Wracking coughs. Continuous, wracking coughs. For hours. Mostly at night, for some reason. Probably because that’s when the evil imps that lurk in the shadows in the corners of bedrooms and hallways are busiest and most creative.

So friends of mine, you who claim to have had this and insist it was no worse than a cold and it was over in 3 or 4 days? I DON’T BELIEVE YOU. You now reside on my mental list of people who forget how awful something is, once it’s over – along with women who have gone through childbirth.

So it’s true that depending on what variant of this sneaky virus you catch – and you won’t know – and how excellent your immune system is at the moment; and what version of the vaccine you got (J&J people, you’re doomed); and whether you’ve been boostered; and how long ago you got vaxed and boostered; and whether you have a living situation that lets you easily and completely isolate the sick person, and whether they went into isolation as soon as they realized they were coming down with something – all those and a hundred other variables – you might experience something that’s only as bad as a bad cold and you might get over it in ---let’s say 6 or so days. But – you won’t know ‘til you catch it and the fun begins.

 And then, you have to remember you were able to transmit the virus for three days prior to having symptoms, and you’ll be  able to transmit it for at least three days after your symptoms have completely disappeared – so to do the right thing, you’ll call everyone you came in contact with maskless for those three days prior to showing symptoms to give them a head’s up. Do this  before the coughing and glass shards throat kick in on day two or three. You’ll most likely hear horrifying stories, as the Husband did, of dozens of local people who also caught it from the one place he regularly went and didn’t wear a mask. In his case: Old Farts Tennis. Yup, I know, but you can’t tell Old Farts anything, and it had been safe and the place had been carefully disinfected daily and monitored until just about a month ago. And then it wasn’t, because everyone got sloppy and decided Covid was no longer a risk. Surprise!

When you do get ready to go back out into public, here’s some more advice from the sickbed: until your symptoms are completely gone – and that means completely gone, not that you’re feeling better and even though you’re still harfing up a hairball every so often you figure you’re safe – you can still give this little giftie to someone else for at least the next three days post symptoms. This advice has changed several times during the two years we’ve been inflicted with Covid, partly because we know more now, and partly because the different variants all act differently and have different rules – so just believe it, you’re still contagious. WEAR A MASK. Everywhere.

So now I’ve had personal experience with the rapid Covid tests, here’s what I can tell you:

No point in wasting one before you have symptoms, you’ll just get a false negative.

If you suspect you’re coming down with something but don’t actually have symptoms yet, don’t go anywhere in public without a good mask on, keep your hands sanitized/well washed, and isolate at home after telling your spouse what you suspect. It won’t kill you. Two or three days later, if you have symptoms, use a test.

If your test is positive, you’ve got it.  Stay isolated. Wear a mask when your family comes to feed you. Don’t touch stuff they’re going to touch. Don’t cough/snot/harf all over everything, and put your used rapid test and all your snotrags in plastic bags that you can seal up once they’re full so the trash folks don’t have to touch them, either.

Stay to hell in your room until you’re really, truly over this. If you have a fever, take acetaminophen or ibuprofen or aspirin; ditto for the sore throat. My personal experience is that only 3 ibus worked and not perfectly, I had no fever worth mentioning, and from a Chinese medical point of view, this is a truly bizarre virus, and weird mix of cold and hot invasion and pretty much nothing has made an obvious difference. I finally tried a fire-toxin formula which may, or may not, have helped the sore throat. Or, it may be that it just stopped hurting when the virus decided to change symptoms. I have no idea.

Should you take a second rapid test? Don’t be confused by the instructions that come with the test: the 2^nd test they refer to really means IF you get a negative result after the first, BUT you develop symptoms in the next few days while you’re carefully wearing a mask in public to protect the innocent, THEN take a 2^nd test to see if the antigens have built sufficiently to test positive. IF you still get a negative result, you most likely do actually just have a cold, but wear a mask in public or even better, stay home, because your cold symptoms are going to freak everyone out and no one wants to catch that from you, either.

At the end of your ordeal, if you’ve isolated ‘til symptom-free PLUS isolated an extra 3 days minimum, no point in taking a test. You can get a positive test for months after having Covid, but it won’t mean you’re still contagious.  Yes, you personally will gain some limited extra immunity from the variant you personally contracted – could be for 2 weeks, could be for 3 months – but you don’t know how long, it’s very individual, and you don’t know which variant you had, and you don’t know which variant everyone else is spreading around, so don’t take a chance – WEAR A MASK IN PUBLIC and around anyone you don’t know for certain is masking and vaxed and boostered and being careful.

WHY does the CDC now say you don’t need to wear a mask? Because they have no idea how many people are still catching the virus. All they know is how many people who caught it needed to be hospitalized, and how many of those died. The CDC doesn’t know about the local break-out of dozens of locals who caught it: rapid test results aren’t reported.

And maybe no one who works at the CDC has actually experienced a rotten case of this virus in their own body or the body of someone close to the, and they actually believe the thing is “no worse than a bad cold” for vaxed and boostered people. That’s true for some people; it’s true for part of the time you have it; but it ignores that getting it, bad cold symptoms or not or worse, disrupts lives – sick people can’t work, sick people’s families often can’t work, sick people give it to other people, and some of those people will indeed wind up in hospital or dead.

Yes, mask wearing is a pain in the butt. Proper mask wearing and sanitizing is a worse pain in the butt. But worse things could happen. How many really sick people, how many days of someone else’s lost work, how many hospitalized and dead people are you willing to be responsible for in order to not wear a mask?

Personally, I’m not ready to risk even one. And I hope the person who did the bad thing which gave the Husband Covid, which gave me Covid, which has caused already 10 days of him not being able to work, and me 8 days of not being able to treat patients, and another week moreat least of neither of us being able to work – should I add those dollar amounts up for you? – plus the days and nights of real discomfort, the risk and trouble to family and friends who have had to run errands for us, the civic work that had to be cancelled, the volunteer work that can’t be done --- you’re getting the idea, right? I hope that person who wasn’t careful who handed the virus on to me and he and the dozens of others who caught it – I hope someone slaps that person upside the head. Hard.

So, this is my contemplation from the middle of my own Covid world. Think twice before deciding it isn’t your responsibility to wear a mask.

And when you catch it, don’t give in to the urge to take your unmasked, Covidy self to visit the vax-denying, mask-refusing friends and relatives who think they’re immune. Just to cough a bit in reflective thought, and see what happens.

Because it won’t be just them.

 

For the blog: herondragonwrites.blogspot.com    8 March 2022

All art and photos Deb Marshall: 

 Me; Two of a Kind (Rasta and Lynx); All Duded Up; Thinking About Stuff; Lynx

 

 

 

Time Off

 

 

It’s March: finally. It’s also Mardi Gras. And it’s snowing: of course.

In my house there aren’t any wild parties or colorful beads. Instead, I’m doing my best to isolate the Husband in his bedroom – very hard in a small house in the middle of winter when it’s too cold to open windows for ventilation and we use a woodstove for heat and my arthritis makes it impossible to haul the wood inside efficiently. Yes, he managed to catch Covid, in spite of being careful and wearing a mask in public places. I’m blaming it on the Old Fart Tennis Guys, all of whom claim to be vaxed and boostered, but who knows? They don’t wear their masks while they’re playing, and they sweat and shout and huff and puff…

It seems that a number of locals have recently caught Covid; he’s been hearing from them ever since he had to call everyone he’s been unmasked around (see Old Fart Tennis Guys above) for the last week. I’ve consequently had to cancel my patients this week – might be next week too, depending on: 1. How fast he gets over this, and 2. Whether I come down with it.  So I’m spending my days following him around with disinfectant wipes in hand, snarling at him to wash his hands wash his hands wash his hands not to touch anything I’ll also touch without first washing his hands, and stay the hell out of the kitchen!

He, of course, is wearing a mask – another set of hygiene rules that need constant repeating (don’t touch the inside and then something else without washing hands first, don’t lay it down on anything I’m going to also touch, don’t don’t don’t! And I’m wearing a mask whenever he’s not in his room and for at least a half hour afterwards. And my hands are so sore and raw from washing washing washing and handling disinfectant wipes that I’m slightly bloody.

It’s going to be a long, long week.

Here’s a Life Lesson: last Saturday I was thinking how much I’d like a couple of weeks off. (This was before Husband’s Covid symptoms appeared.) BE WARY OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.

If I’m clever, and don’t get sick also, I’ll use the time to tackle a couple of the piles of paperwork I didn’t have time to deal with last year when I was too busy dealing with my Florida friend’s stuff. I’ll read a couple of books and take a couple of naps – things I keep promising myself but never, ever, have time for. I’ll sort all the seeds that have come in the mail into groups: Plant Early; Plant In June; Flowers. Maybe I’ll go through the Files in the Fireproof Box and remove the stuff that doesn’t need to be there anymore. And start a pile of yard sale stuff. Maybe I’ll catch sight of the suet-stealing ravens: I’ve heard them several times this winter but not made it to the window in time to watch their thieving deed. I could edit the indoor plants and put the ones that really aren’t doing well into the compost.

I could……dust. 

Or make a list of all the things I’m going to change when it’s my turn to be god. Or hunt for my magic wand, which I seem to have misplaced years ago. If I could find that, I wouldn’t have to wait ‘til it’s my turn to be god.

Right now I’m going to go heat some soup for supper.

I heard in passing on NPR a quick comment that there’s yet another new variant in the States, including NH and other New England states, that’s even more contagious than Omicron. I only caught part of the report so fact-check me on this, but they said  it already accounts for – could it be? – 19% or more of new cases in NH. Don’t stop wearing your masks yet – it’s too soon.

Unless, of course, you want a couple of weeks off.

 

For the blog: herondragonwrites.blogspot.com      1 March 2022

 All photos Deb Marshall

 

A Lost Year

 

For me, last year was a lost year. A year when time got lost, the world as I knew it was lost, energy was lost, feelings got lost, my illusions about other people got lost, my temper got lost very badly over and over and over again, sleep was lost…and to  a large extent, my contact with joy was lost.

In Pandemic Year 2021, people lost their minds, and so far, they haven’t regained them. People who used to be rational  now live in a science-fiction fantasy world where secret cloning labs in apartments in NYC are producing, with the help of alien DNA, fully mature look-alike clones of a list of people in the public eye; brains were transplanted from one adult male politician’s into another’s; microchips were inserted into vaccines so “they” can track us; vaccines were going to turn us into zombies; the Emperor and Saviour of the World was going to be crowned by people long thought to be dead; immortal tentacle beings were put into vaccines to live inside us for some bizarre reason; oh, and much more.

That’s the group who went completely nutso, and they’re so very crazed they’re actually funny – except that they actually believe this nonsense, which is scary.

 Another group that lost their minds and their grip on reality lives in a political thriller novel where mass voter fraud was perpetrated by a series of means that could only be taken seriously in a work of fiction.  This group of people sees enemy combatants hiding in every poll booth, voter registration list, paper manufacturer, state election official, vote counter, ink manufacturer;  and trickles down to classrooms, teachers, school boards, state legislatures, state officials, school boards, town officers, news agencies, reporters  --- you name it. What’s imagined by these people would be truly impressive if it were actually possible to pull off. It’s a tangled scrum of self-entitlement and hate that weaves a lowery net over too many areas of our lives.

There’s another group of self-involved, selfish, entitled neighbors and relations that have jammed their heads into some hollow place I truly don’t understand; a parallel universe where their decisions about health have no connection to the pandemic we’re in. This group has  somehow become immune to the reality of what’s happening around us, and also believes they’re free from any responsibility towards the rest of us, including the most vulnerable and fragile amongst us. They spout warped facts and figures to, I assume, soothe their guilty souls and try to confuse us into not paying attention to the stark damage each is doing. Each of their smoke-and-mirrors arguments  are connected with a twisted, barely there,  tiny thread of truth, or a truism that doesn’t pertain to the current situation, and they go on their merry ways putting everyone around them at risk of serious disease and potential death. Many of these lost souls deny it’s even happening, and many, even while they’re the ones dying, continue to deny it’s happening. They’ll tell you that it’s only vaccinated people who are getting sick, or only unhealthy people, or that because vaccinated people get sick and die from the virus proves the vaccinations don’t work, or that more people die of car accidents in a year than die of Covid, or or or – there are hundreds of claims, all warped, and none admitting that their unvaccinated selves are a major part of what’s causing the continuation of the problem. This group of people who have lost their minds tear families apart, cause untold amounts of sorrow and suffering, fear and disgust; and especially take a toll on the old folks in their families who are forced to risk serious illness and death, or give up seeing their grandchildren/great grandchildren/once dear friends again in the short time that may be left to them on earth.

 

I have lost my temper; I have lost my sense of humour (though I have to admit the sci-fi/fantasy group is pretty darn entertaining); I have lost some part of myself that used to believe that there is always possibility, that people will do their best and won’t choose to act so selfishly that they choose evil, and that love endures. I’ve found I don’t like people I used to like, and that when I lost that liking for them, I lost the love. I’ve discovered a part of myself that won’t be able to forgive.

Perhaps it’s because I’m tired, more tired than I ever remember being.  Pandemic restrictions, fighting nay-sayers, daily friction; followed by months of sequelae from a bad allergic reaction (nothing to do with Covid) and a long-standing injury that refused to heal; followed by near-shut-down; followed by the need to put my own life on hold for several months in order to help out a friend who, it turned out, needs more than just temporary help; two dead washing machines; a gardening summer that was partly lost to time I didn’t have, partly lost to a marauding horde of chipmunks that decimated at least half the food that should have gone into my freezers for winter. Inane, on-going arguments with people in the lost-their-minds categories; an on-going flea infestation; lost sleep from pain, and heat, and having to sleep in uncomfortable places for weeks on end. Rushing, rushing, rushing to try to catch up with my own life’s chores. Perhaps it’s also from on-going self-conversations about the terrible person I’ve become: the person who will not be able to forgive a relative who puts other people and my aged mother at risk; and disappointment that more than one person I’ve liked and loved are no longer people I can care about. My list goes on; exhaustion floods it.

We’re all tired. We ‘re all dis-spirited. We are all mourning people, or lost relationships, or altered health, or sometimes violently altered circumstances. This isn’t war time; this is war time. We have nothing to lose; we have everything to lose.  We are all dark spirits trying to find our ways home. And at the moment….at the moment, the circle of people we can rely on, look to for comfort, not fear, has narrowed. I no longer like those unmasked people I encounter daily, in mundane places, going about life’s business. I would no longer unquestionably ask those people for help, if I needed it. I no longer do anything but frown at them.

I want to sing a song of the new year, of new possibilities, of the under-current of joy. I want to; but I’m not sure I can, this year.

Not yet

 

Now it’s February, almost half-way through. I’ve been too tired and too angry to write; but life surrounds the ball of thunderclouds that usually float above my head.  Disregarding me, the moon fills and empties; the birds come and eat seed and the cat food my fussy furballs reject; a friend regularly sends letters I look forward to, especially because I know the writing of them is difficult. Every once in awhile I find something enjoyable on Netflix or Acorn. Every once in awhile a book in my To-Be-Read stack proves to be just wonderful.  Wild turkeys meander down from the witch poet’s hill to snack on spilled seeds and grains; my sweetest cat demands a full-attention love-up at least once a day; I make a soup that’s exceptionally wonderful. The seed catalogs are arriving; a bright red cardinal flits through the lilac tree; someone tells a story that makes me laugh and laugh.  Petie the Poodle visits my office. 

 

It could be worse!

 

For the blog, 10 February 2022. All photos Deb Marshall or Charley Freiberg.

Covid Update January 2022

 

Covid Update

As best I understand it

January 2022

 

Masks:  Don’t even think about not wearing one, any time you’re in a public place, with friends or relatives you don’t see regularly or who have delicate immune systems, or anytime you aren’t certain you’re in a safe place. Also on really cold winter days because they really keep your face a lot warmer.

            Cloth non-masks: like a turtleneck pulled up around your face or a neck warmer or something. These aren’t masks and they’re barely better than not wearing one at all. Masks are easy to acquire nowadays, use a real mask.

            Cloth masks: not terribly protective. Best use is on top of a paper surgical mask to help that mask fit better. Cloth masks should be washed after every wearing, so have a bunch of them if you use them. The reason they don’t work so well is because they’re woven, and woven materials allow small particles to pass through. Also, they’re usually only 2 layers thick. Thicker ones are slightly better, but they’re still woven, so not as protective as any of those listed below:

            “Paper” surgical-style masks: these masks, and all the masks listed below, aren’t woven, they’re… melded is the best word I can think of. The process eliminates the tiny holes that are in woven material, so if the mask fits well, which often they don’t so wear a cloth mask on top if you’ve got a loose one, it keeps small particles from passing through. Also, these are 3 layers of material, so more protective.

            KN95 masks:  These are 4 layers of non-woven material and usually fit most people pretty well. The metal strip over the nose tends to be more bendable than most of the surgical-style masks, and for those of us who wear glasses, if you bend the strip well and let your glasses rest on the top edge of the mask, usually there is no glasses fogging.  Also, there’s space inside the mask so your nose isn’t right up against it as it is in the surgical-style masks, which make them more comfortable to breathe in and for your skin, for most people. These are a good choice and should always be used in risky situations, including stores you go into where there are lots of people and you’re going to be there awhile.

            N95 masks:  These are the gold star of masks, especially if you happen to get one that’s fitted for your face, as people working in the hospitals get. These are harder to find, and they’re expensive, but they are the best protection. These have 5 layers of material and fit the face well, allowing the least amount of escape of your respiration out and outside air in, so also safest for the people you’re around (KN95s are also very good this way). There is a version called KN94 which is made in Korea and seems to be very well made, and is often adjustable; these are the Korean version of the N95s.

When to toss them:  this kinda depends on circumstances – mainly, who you’ve been around and where you’ve been. Even more importantly, how are you handling your masks? Keep the inside clean – don’t touch it with anything that could be contaminated, including your hands. You are still using hand sanitizer regularly, right?

            Toss them if they get wet, whether from you sneezing, or, god forbid, anyone else sneezing or coughing on you, or from rain. Once wet, they aren’t protective. No, don’t let them dry out and then use them again.

 

Vaccines and Boosters: If you aren’t vaccinated and don’t have a serious medical condition that makes it impossible to get this protection, please get over yourself and get vaccinated, or hole up in your house and don’t go out of it until this is all over. We don’t want you anywhere near us. And YOU are the cause of this pandemic remaining and morphing, so don’t fool yourself that you’re special, won’t catch it/spread it, and bear no moral responsibility for the deaths and illnesses in the people around you. How many people have you unknowingly made ill or killed because you’re unvaccinated? Mostly you won’t know.

If you’re vaccinated get the booster shot. Yes, it’s apt to make you feel crappy for a few days, but not nearly so crappy as catching Covid; and it makes it less likely that you’ll contract and infect other people with the Omicron variant. If you got the J&J vaccine, it appears to be the best idea to get one of the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna) as your booster.

Yes, you can still catch Covid even if you’ve been vaccinated, so keep wearing masks and cleaning hands. You can still catch it if you’re boostered, just a less likely, but you still need to keep wearing masks and cleaning. You can still transmit Covid if you’re vaxed and if you’re also boostered, so keep wearing masks and cleaning. Tatoo that on the inside of your eyelids, or on your forehead if that helps better: WEAR MASKS    CLEAN HANDS   AVOID RISKY BEHAVIOR

And YES YOU CAN STILL CATCH COVID EVEN IF YOU’VE ALREADY HAD IT!  The “natural immunity” we all hoped for when this started and we didn’t know much about it turns out to be very minimal – maybe for 2 weeks – and not for everyone. In fact, there has been some indication that people who have already had Covid are MORE likely to catch the Omicron variant that’s currently making so many people sick.

About the Tests:

There are 2 types of tests, the PCR and the rapid antigen tests.

The PCR test is the one where someone else swabs high into your nostril, and the  swab is sent to a lab for processing. This test looks for genetic markers of the virus and takes a couple of days to get results – longer if the lab is overwhelmed with tests to process. This is a very accurate test, you’ll rarely get a false result. Not impossible, but rare. These tests can give a positive after you’re a week or longer past the symptomatic and contagious time of the infection, because the genetic markers will often still be there. Even so, this is the most accurate test.

Another test that goes to a lab for processing, and is also very accurate if the sample is taken correctly, is a saliva test. Again, it will take a couple of days to get the results. I’m familiar with one called the Vault test; this test needs to be done on a zoom call with  a technician who directs you how to do the test and watches to make sure it’s done correctly. It may be done at home.

These tests can detect presence of the virus up to 3 days sooner than a rapid antigen test can.

Rapid Antigen tests are the rapid-result tests we hear so much about lately. These tests are done at home (or in a school, clinic, doctor’s office, etc) and are also a nasal swab, but the results are available in about 10 minutes. These tests are looking for a protein on the virus that appears as it’s replicating, and are not very accurate in many situations.

            Rapid tests will give false negative results if:

                        You haven’t taken the test correctly. For example, if you don’t swab thoroughly, or you don’t follow other instructions accurately. As an example, the free antigen tests available through the state of NH require that the person taking the test hasn’t eaten or had anything to drink, including water, for at least 30 minutes prior to taking the test.

                        You have the virus but are asymptomatic. The antigens build and become detectable only when your immune system kicks in to fight the infection. Symptoms are a signal that the virus is replicating sufficiently that detectable antigens are present. Before you have symptoms, you are still contagious, even if your rapid test is negative. Also, people who are vaccinated and those who have also had a booster may not develop symptoms, or may have symptoms that are so mild they don’t notice them. These people are contagious even so, despite a negative test result.

                        You have the virus but not for long enough to produce detectable antigens.  In this case, you can still be contagious, and you may have the beginnings of symptoms that are so mild you don’t recognize them as such, or you may not yet have developed symptoms. You will be contagious for about 3 days after contracting the virus but have not yet developed symptoms, as well as while you have symptoms, and for a number of days after you’re symptom-free.

                        You’ve had the virus and believe yourself to be recovered, and the antigen load has become undetectable. You will still be contagious for 3-5 days after your last symptom has cleared. A lingering cough, for example, is still an active symptom – please don’t fool yourself into thinking you can’t pass on the virus until you are really, truly, symptom-free.

When are the rapid tests worth using, since they produce so many false negatives?

In my opinion, in these cases:

·        You believe you may have been exposed. In this case, wait for 3 days before taking the test, unless you develop symptoms sooner; prior to that, you will almost certainly get a false negative. In the meantime, practice strict risk management and wear a mask around other people. If you have mild symptoms but still test negative, or want to be absolutely certain, repeat the test in 2 days.

·        You have symptoms, but aren’t sure if they mean you have Covid, a cold, the flu, allergies, or the result of woodstove dust and dry air in the cold New England winter.  If you take a rapid test under these circumstances and get a negative result, it’s probably not Covid. To be sure, repeat the test in 2 or 3 days – still negative, you can feel pretty certain it’s not Covid. HOWEVER, if all you have is a cold or flu, you shouldn’t be running around in public spreading your germs to the rest of us, anyway: stay home until at least 24 hours after your fever is gone, and preferably until your symptoms are done. If you’re out in public coughing and snotting and sneezing and moaning you’re going to freak the rest of us out. Stay home, and if you absolutely need to go out, wear a KN95 mask, and throw it away after each use.

·        You want to visit someone who is at risk of serious illness if they contract Covid. Take a rapid test; for the next 3 days practice strict Covid risk protocols (masks, clean hands, avoiding public places), then repeat the test. Alternatively, and to be more certain, take a PCR test about 3 days prior to your planned visit. In either case, do not relax your strict protocols after testing until after you’ve finished your visit with your special person.

 

Every week lately, sometimes daily, I hear stories about a relative or friend – sometimes vaccinated, sometimes unvaccinated - who took a rapid test, tested negative, then went to visit a group of friends or relatives they rarely see. Three days later, the whole group, including the visitor, is sick with Covid, vaccinated or not. Usually the vaxed, boostered people don’t catch it, but not always. And always, the false negative test result caused everyone to relax and think they didn’t need to wear masks during the visit.

They were wrong.

 

Please be careful, stay safe and healthy!

 

 

 

 16 January 2022

Heron Dragon Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine

603-724-7807