The Covid Chronicles

While the first week of the new year was great, things quickly went downhill.  First, hubby was playing poker and a guy at the next poker table keeled over dead right in front of him (needless to say, hubby was very shaken up as he had never seen someone die in front of him before).  This, however, tends to happen pretty often in Vegas.  There are a lot of elderly people who live and vacation here and sometimes they die, both in the casino and, as in the case of our bowling leagues, at the bowling alley (three people we know died at the bowling alley over the past couple of years!  eeekkk).

Then we both got sick.  Hubby and I started with a mild cough and before you know it, we both had fever, chills, headache, etc.  Hubby pulled out of it after a few days (not sure if it was because he was vaxxed or because he has always had a super good immune system, he never stays sick for more than a few days).  While I (unvaxxed and with a 'just OK' immune system) am mucking along feeling a big better by the day.  I am guessing this is covid because of the symptoms and because it seems everyone is sick with covid in my city right now.  We didn't go get tested because we would have had to wait in a huge line, there's no guarantee that when you get to the head of the line they would still have tests (they tend to run out and people have to try again the next day), and by the time you get the test results back (IF they are accurate, there have been false-positives and false-negatives so YMMV), it is too late for them to do much good (test results have been running seven or more days because the labs are so backed up).  So we just stayed home and let the virus run its course (it was overall much milder than the couple times I had the actual flu).

I am hoping we can get some sort of antibody test at our local hospital the next time we are there just to know for sure whether we had actual covid or not.  Also, everyone in the US can order free covid tests online here starting in a couple of days.

Finally, two relatives passed away within the last few days (non-covid related as both had been ill for a long time).  One lived in LA and I thought it was unusual that while the hospital would have transferred him to hospice as he really was at death's door, there were no hospital OR hospice beds available so they told his family to just take him home (double eeekkk).  I guess this is a standard now as hospitals are still overwhelmed with covid patients.  His family wants to take his body home to the Philippines but I have no idea how that will work as I think that country is back on lockdown again (they make you stay in a hotel for 10 days the minute you arrive to quarantine and once that is done you can go about the country unless you get sick with covid in which case you are back in quarantine for however long).  Needless to say, hubby and I have no plans to travel anywhere in the foreseeable future!

I hope you are all staying safe and well!