Plague Diary: In Which I Have the Plague

[lydy]

In preparation for my gig in Cleveland, and because I had a minor gastric event, I submitted a saliva test, administered on Nov. 23rd.  Today, while at a rest stop in Illinois, I checked my email, and found that the result was positive.

I am currently in Indiana, and will go on to Cleveland and quarantine there.  I have informed my employer, and he will inform the Cleveland Clinic, and let me know how to proceed on Monday.  Even if the contract goes up in smoke, I will stay in Cleveland until I'm safe to go home.

I am very, very worried about my family.  I am somewhat worried about myself.  

As our president has said, It is what it is.  It didn't need to be this way, but it is. 

Comments

[dreamshark]

"You 100% can catch the virus while shopping. Lots of the existing safety guidelines are based from data from very very early on and have not been updated to reflect latest science."

Actually, all that guidance is being updated constantly (which is why it is so confusing). At first all the public health messages focused obsessively on hand washing, and hand washing and more hand washing, with most sources in total denial about aerosol spread and masking. Now the CDC and even the WHO have acknowledged that surface spread is probably not much of a factor and aerosol spread is real. As you say, it's a matter of concentration of virus in the air and how much of that air you breathe. At least that seems to be the latest scientific consensus.

But seriously, if you are walking around a cavernous supermarket with everybody wearing masks (which people do now, at least in Minneapolis) I just don't see how it is possible to inhale a significant amount of virus even if everybody else in the store is infected. Maybe surface spread actually is as important as people seemed to think back in March? And those people who disinfect every grocery bag really are doing the smart thing?

I still haven't seen one shred of actual evidence that people are getting infected in grocery stores except for this kind of anecdotal report. I don't know how you could run a strict scientific study on sources of infection, but there are attempts to summarize and quantify what people say to contact tracers. The main sources of infection are usually work-related, household infections, bars/restaurants/gyms, congregate living situations, or gatherings involving churches. I would like to see just one of those reports that included a specific category for the number of people who said, "I never went anywhere except grocery shopping." Those people just get lumped into the "No idea" category. And you never know if that means, "I have no idea because there are so many possibilities" or people like Lydy who didn't do anything remotely high-risk and are just baffled.