Desultory Diary, Episode 32: Covid Testing

I just made appointments for my wife and me to have Covid-19 testing tomorrow, October 3, 2020, at a drive-in facility near our home.

My wife began to have a problem  yesterday, a sore throat without any other symptoms. Her throat is indeed inflamed and it hurts for her to swallow. Normally, we wouldn't be worried about this at all. But these are not normal times.

I am concerned because she is a physician, and, although elderly, continues to see patients. (Wearing PPE, of course!) She cant help thinking, What about that kid I saw yesterday, who had a cough...

Even though she is long past normal retirement age, she has in her favor that she is in otherwise in excellent health--and has her gender in her favor as well. (Elderly men with Covid die at twice the rate of elderly females. Still...)

Her symptom started on the same day it was announced that Trump and the First Lady tested positive as well. (Do we feel any schadenfreude? No. Pity; for him and for us.) Trump has been reckless; we have been cautious. Nevertheless, thanks to Trump's bungled handling of the pandemic, the chances of getting infected are a lot higher than anyone in his right mind would like.

Robert R. Redfield, the Director of the CDC, has stated that if we all followed the simple guidelines of wearing a mask and practicing social distancing, the pandemic would be under control in about 12 months. We have been following those guidelines; Trump and many of his followers haven't.

Redfield even stated that a mask and maintaining social distancing are even more effective in combating the pandemic that a vaccine would be.

Staying home while Trump flouts science has made me furious. His followers--how there can be more than a dozen amazes me after all he's done and hasn't done--many of whom pack rallies without wearing masks and while sitting close together--keep people like us, who do follow science, at home for much longer than necessary.

We are among the lucky ones. So many people have become unemployed; so many people are in danger of eviction; so many people can't put food on the table; worst of all, too too many people are dying from an affliction that "is what it is" but didn't have to be.

Yes, I am furious, but I am also worried and beleaguered.

The day before yesterday we dropped off my wife's mail-in ballot at a designated location. I have yet to receive mine. Guess whom we're voting for?

Trump's rage against imaginary fraud regarding mail-in ballots is especially reprehensible. As a means of suppressing voters; as a means of forcing voters to vote in person which will greatly increase the likelihood of more infections, Trump's touting of mail fraud is a meme and a means to foster the only end he knows: himself.

We would rather be visiting friends. We would rather be in a theatre. We would rather be at the gym, etc. We would rather not have to be tested for a plague, which, thanks to our Bungler-in-Chief, rages on.