TEST, TEST, TEST
Just as we
thought this thing might go away it is back with a vengeance. Well, it is contagious as Hell (is Hell contagious? I hope not). There is some hope that it is less virulent,
and apparently not too dangerous if you are vaccinated and or have some immunity
from previous infection. We won't know that for a few weeks.
Anyway, what
is the governments solution?
Test, Test, Test!
At least
they are not calling for contact tracing.
I’m pretty sure that if contact tracing was remotely feasible, then
98% of the country would have to go into 14-day quarantine. I think that ship, which might be
effective with other contagions, has sailed with this one. (No, I am not a doctor but I have been watching a lot of “ER” reruns
lately.)
So, Test, Test,
Test.
If you live in
NYC and you want to visit friends or family this Christmas you are recommended
to test first so you do not infect others.
There are
lines around the block in NYC and other places to get a Covid test. Let me analyze this as an uneducated
blockhead who had to cheat to pass Biology 1 in college.
There is a
virus that has almost no early symptoms that is, according to pundits, “a tsunami”
of infection. We have learned that the old
Delta was reasonably safe outdoors. This
new variant maybe not so much. We won't know for a few weeks.
So…in order
to be safe we now need a test where you line up nose to nose with hundreds of
people waiting to get tested because they think they may have a virus that is extremely
contagious!
Test, Test, Test?
That sounds
like a 24/7 super-spreader event to me.
New
Yorkers Standing in line:
“Yo, how
you doin?”
“Not too
bad…ah-chew! Probably just a little cold, or maybe a deadly virus, one
or the other, that’s why I’m standing in line with all these other maybe
infected people to find out. How about
you.”
“Me…I’m
good, I’m just waiting to get tested to be sure I don’t have anything so I won’t
give it to others.”
“So, you’re
standing in line with potentially infectious people to see if you are infected
so you can visit with other people who may or may not be infected so you don’t infect
them if you are infected?”
“Yeah.”
“You know
that you won’t get the results for at least two days, and if you got infected
standing in this line with potentially infected people it won’t show in your
test results from today.”
“So, then
even if I test negative, I won’t really know for sure, and I might actually get
infected without knowing because I stood in this line with hundreds of possibly
infected people?”
“That’s
how I (cough cough) see it.”
“So,
after I test today, I should test again tomorrow to make sure I did not get infected
today by standing in line with hundreds of possibly infected people?”
“Yes, if
you want to be safe. But of course, you still won’t know because you might get infected
waiting in that line.”
“The heck
with that, I’m going home.”
“Well,
you’d better quarantine yourself for 14 days just to be safe.”
Test, Test, Test…
the new government mantra.
Makes sense
to me!
Now i have a brain cramp.
ReplyDeleteOur testing stations seem to be set up for cars only, there are no walk in places that I know about, so we have cars lined up for hours, patiently creeping forward an inch at a time. Yesterday's wait time was about nine hours and get this..there are NO TOILET FACILITIES! You'd better have a strong bladder. Late yesterday they had some sort of light bulb moment and decided that those who were double vaxxed or had already been tested at the border ( I think, can't remember exactly I was eating dinner at the time) didn't need to wait in line they could go home, so about two thirds of the line vanished.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't care so much about the testing protocols, I don't go anywhere that has crowds except the local supermarket where everyone wears a mask, AND I'm planning on spending most of 2022 at home. Again.
I've seen those New York lines on the news. That's crazy! No lines around here now. Earlier this year, the cars were lined up for the Walgreen's drive-thru testing. LINES! Three to four cars! It was impossible to pick up a prescription! AND, they'd shut down at the drop of a hat if they got a positive test, for about four hours, supposedly to deep-clean the store. Glad that's not my pharmacy.
ReplyDeleteApparently, the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many. So one person could find out they were positive, and sit at home petrified they were going to die, since no treatment was given, other than to "go to the ER if you can't breathe." Meanwhile a hundred people, relying on the meds they take to keep them alive, had to put off getting those meds until the store was "clean enough." I don't think pharmacies should be in the testing and vaccinating business. Or grocery stores, either! What happened to keeping those vaccines at that severe sub-zero temperature that only the military had freezers to transport and give those mass shot clinics?