I Got The COVID

I've been careful.  I'm vaccinated and boosted (thank you Veteran's Administration!), and I wear masks whenever I'm out, only taking them off if it's safe to do so.  I also try my hardest to social distance.  My daughter's boyfriend had come down with COVID and so she wanted to get tested.  I decided to go get tested with her.

My daughter was negative.  I was positive. 

I was stunned, not only because I was asymptomatic, with only a little bit of congestion, but the question of 'how' crossed my mind.  I go to the radio station to do the show but for the most part I'm separated from everyone else, and I've been wearing a mask.  I go to the grocery store, but I rarely get close to anyone at 8 AM on a Thursday morning.  My wife and I had walked a few parks but outside of jeopardizing her (she gets tested tomorrow) there are very few other people out.

The most likely place would then fall to the Ridgedale YMCA.  I wear a mask whenever I work out and I social distance the best I can, but (since Ridgedale Y doesn't require masks) it's inevitable maskless people will saunter on by, many of them elderly (YIKES!).  Even though the amount of people I could've been exposed too is limited, it was most likely I got it at the Y. 

Then again, Omicron is a beast.  This latest variant of the Corona Virus is not to be messed with.  It doesn't seem as lethal or as ventilator-inducing as Delta was, but it sure seems to be able to spread wicked fast, like 'just walking past a person in an airport, store or restaurant' fast.  It was clear where things were headed when you'd watch pictures of NFL and College Football bowl games, seeing packed stadiums, pretty much no one wearing a mask, let alone social distancing.  I don't think we're anywhere near the Omicron peak.  This latest surge could eventually break our hospitals. 

I've had the expected far right loon balls chime in.  So far three have hoped for me to die (SO CHRISTIAN!), while multiple others cackle with glee at the thought of me being sick.  They come at me with the tone "I bet you regret getting vaccinated now!" 

Please!  I'm glad I was vaccinated and boosted, and if they tell me to get another booster, I'll get it in a heart beat.  In case you missed it, I'm asymptomatic.  Twenty four hours after my test I still have no symptoms and as a matter of fact just got done helping to shovel the driveway.  So far, I'm not having trouble breathing, I'm not headed to a hospital, I'm not having to think about my family after I'm gone.  God willing it will stay that way.

I have crashed in my son's room, who is off at college.  I have pretty much only been in there, mask on, with my handy can of Lysol spray at the ready.  So far I watched The Eternals (I really liked it), Matrix Resurrection (also very good) and Chris Pratt's The Tomorrow War (not so much).  I have played my word games, and I'm reading M, King's Bodyguard from Niall Leonard, Baseball in Minnesota from Stew Thornly and Confluence from Hampton Smith.  I'm also getting some sleep (Yes I did go out and shovel snow, but it is Minnesota in January and I'm a Minnesotan).

I will quarantine until I have a negative test from a testing center (I know of one where they test you out in your car).  I'll be safe because I'm not only looking out for myself, but my family, my kids, my friends, my co-workers and everyone else in society.  I do not want you sick, I do not want you dead, and I do not want you broke for the next 20 years of your life with crippling medical debt.  Me being careful is the the least I can do for society.  I'm not a selfish jackass, following political decisions I'm trying to mask with my Bible or screams of "Freedom!"

Please, get vaccinated, wear a mask, and social distance.