busybee fluffy rambles

So, there was a COVID outbreak at my choir. At first it seemed like it was isolated to folks who participated in one extracurricular thing after the last rehearsal, but it turns out that it’s been affecting a lot of folks. We were going to have a talent show and fundraising auction this Friday but that’s been postponed until May. So it goes.

Anyway this morning I woke up coughing, and while that cleared up quickly I’ve been feeling pretty under the weather all day, with occasional respiratory stuff and general fatigue/malaise.

As usual, home rapid tests are turning up negative, but for whatever reason I’ve never had a positive rapid test even when I very clearly had COVID, so I don’t know what’s up with that.

I’m hoping that this is a fluke and I’m not actually coming down with COVID for a third goddamn time, and that I’ll be well enough for our big Benaroya Hall concert next Friday, but I’m not terribly optimistic about that right now given how things like this always go. In the meantime I am, of course, isolating. Fortunately I’m pretty well-stocked on groceries right now so I don’t think I’ll need to get anything delivered (although I did order a bunch of cough drops just in case).

So, COVID-19 has made it to Seattle, and there’s been enough localized outbreaks that people are absolutely flipping out because of it. Store shelves have been cleared of nonperishables, paper products (especially toilet paper!), hand sanitizer, face masks, and bottled water (even though there’s been absolutely no concerns about our water infrastructure whatsoever and this is only causing problems for people who need to, like, fill their CPAPs and humidifiers and whatever).

Hospitals are completely overwhelmed and unprepared, and there’s no test kits to go around. I have people shouting in one ear about how terrible everything is and how we’re all going to die, and people in the other ear saying how everyone who’s overreacting is being silly and there’s no reason for anyone to do anything differently.

Somewhere in the middle, I am concerned about the pandemic, but also about what this will do to this city while everyone’s in a panic.

And meanwhile, I’m coming down with something. I don’t know if it’s my usual winter cold, or something worse; I don’t think I’ve been in a situation where I’d have been exposed to COVID-19 in particular, but for the past few days I’ve had persistent shortness of breath, and today I started feeling nauseous and came close to vomiting; not a typical COVID-19 symptom but not without precedent either.

I contacted my new doctor about it and they gave me the usual CDC guidance and that if I’m feeling ill and haven’t been directly exposed to coronavirus I should come in for an exam, and if I have possibly been exposed they can do a video visit to get a better idea of what’s going on. Meanwhile I had a hot shower and some toast and fried eggs for dinner and I’m feeling somewhat better. Not great, but better.