The Quarantine Diary 7
Day 7 (Really Week 7)
I’ve been in and out of the office for a few hours at a time since this started. Being in IT, much of my work can be done from anywhere, including home. But, there are times when I must babysit a server in person, do a hard reboot, connect new physical equipment — that kind of stuff.
For the first few weeks, I was able to avoid going in at all. Then it was once a week, then twice. Today, May 4, 2020, I’m attempting to resume my normal schedule in the office. Not because I have to be there for any of those aforementioned circumstances, but because going to the office is what we do, right?
Also, it gets tough to work with everyone else in the house sometimes. Especially when all of us have been holed up for the better part of seven weeks.
As I write this, the U.S. is nearing 1.2 million cases of coronavirus, with nearly 69,000 dead from it. I don’t know if I was exposed yet, because testing is not easy to find. My doctor called in a lab order for me to get tested before I start on a new medicine. So, I’ll find out this week, I guess.
Of course, if I had it already, or was at least exposed, then it’s highly likely that my whole family was exposed, and we can finally let our guards down a little bit. One or more of us can also donate plasma to help others.
If I do not have the antibodies, I’m not sure what the right course of action is. While reasonable people can accept that we will all be exposed to this eventually, the timing is crucial. If a second wave of illness hits the U.S. as we reopen economies and the gathering places that come with it, do I want to be part of that wave? In Italy, during the worst of the pandemic, doctors had to decide which patients were likely to die and give them only palliative care, preserving life-saving efforts only for those who seemed likely to survive. What a horrible choice for anyone to make, much less for the very people who have dedicated their lives to saving others. So, if I get sick as part of a larger wave, do I risk falling into a situation like that?
On the other hand, how much longer can we all go on without a “normal” life routine? Tens of millions of unemployed and hundreds of thousands of shuttered or barely-operational businesses is unsustainable.
Back at the office, everything seems so normal. Yet I know that the threat still exists. Until I have an antibody test, none of the reasons for being quarantined in the first place have changed for me.
And that is the most frustrating part of this.