COVID—Worst. Xmas. Gift. Ever
I tested COVID positive on Dec. 22 while my family and I were traveling out of town. My wife and daughter have tested covid negative (my daughter’s 2nd test results come back tomorrow, so still crossing our fingers she’s still negative). Here’s more about what happened in my case, and also links to some general info and advice that could be useful.
Since I’m fully vaxxed (including a booster), I’ve been very lucky because my symptoms are mild — headache, congestion, cough, and a brief case of chills that prompted me to get tested. And the well wishes from so many people I know from online and in person has really helped me keep my spirits up, so thank you again.
Omicron is spreading at an insane pace, even among fully-vaccinated people. The first major mass outbreak reported was at an office party in Norway where about half of participants got covid despite being fully vaccinated and testing negative prior to the party.
So here’s what happened in my case. My advice is to avoid any travel if at all possible, test right beforehand if you do need to travel (here’s a great article from the Atlantic talking about what we do and don’t know about omicron’s spread and how testing may or may not stop its spread), and of course get fully vaccinated — including boosters — either way.
When we left on Dec. 18, things were starting to look bad. My wife and I had a long discussion before we left about whether or not we should cancel plans. The trip was a cruise — a gift to my wife after she got her Master’s degree. We had rescheduled it from Summer 2020 and finally rebooked it this November when things were looking relatively calm for covid. It was apparently a couple days after we left that the panic started to set in as cases exploded, and people around the country started rushing out to get tests.
We don’t normally do huge vacations, but this was a very special occasion which had already been ruined once by the pandemic, and the prices were very low since cruise lines are still trying to get people to come back.
Our final reasoning for going ahead with it was the cruise requiring full vaccinations, a negative covid test prior to boarding, and masks indoors and when social distancing couldn’t be kept outside. It was arguably safer than going anywhere in Memphis since most places don’t require masks anymore and we’re at maybe 61% vaccination rate (according to Our World in Data).
Even though we were staying in the same room, and we did nearly everything together, I somehow managed to get covid while my wife and daughter (hopefully) didn’t. After I tested positive, I had to go to a covid-positive wing of the ship for the rest of the trip, and my wife and daughter were put in a wing where close contacts were quarantining. So I didn’t get to see them in person for Christmas, but did get to talk to them and see them through choppy Skype video.
Spending Christmas away from each other sucked, but I am extremely fortunate that knock on wood, my covid has been mild and that now that we’re back home, we have an upstairs attic where I can stay until I’m done isolating. I can work from home once I’m feeling better.
How did I get it? With omicron, there are still so many unknowns. The timeline in my case could mean that I either caught it right before I went on the cruise, or right after.
An excerpt from one of many articles about what happened this past week on cruises.
Could I have been infected prior to boarding but didn’t have enough of a viral load yet to test positive?
Could someone else have tested negative prior to boarding, didn’t have enough of a viral load at the time of their test, but spread it to me (and probably others) sometime after boarding?
Could someone have faked their vaccine card and/or negative test — which would be extremely easy to do — and were already covid-positive before the cruise began and spread it to me and others?
There were several events during the cruise we didn’t go to so we could avoid being in larger groups in a smaller space. But there were a number of people (maybe 15-25% depending on the situation?) who weren’t following masking guidelines — either not wearing one at all or the annoying “mask below my nose” people — with little enforcement from cruise crew in spite saying they would. So did I catch it because of one of the assholes who won’t put a mask on during a pandemic?
Cruises made the headlines last week, due to being turned away from ports and/or having outbreaks, so it may just be inherently unsafe to take a cruise now that omicron is around and appears to spread so easily.
I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure. I’ve been extremely careful since the pandemic began. I wear KN95 masks whenever I’m out near anyone. Which isn’t that often — I can nearly always work from home, and I avoid going anywhere in person when at all possible. I always maintain social distancing even when I’m outside with anyone outside of my family. Some people have said I’m “too” careful, but I’ve always been risk-adverse and play it safe with most things.
My wife and daughter have to go to work and are in close contact with people every week due to work and school respectively. They wear KN95 masks during the day, and are generally around others who mask-up as well, but they sometimes have to spend hours in the same room as other people. Although they wear their masks, there are some exceptions where others aren’t masking up or when they occasionally have to take off their mask (for meals, for example). I’ve been very worried one of them would catch covid because of this.
For me to be the one to catch covid took us all off guard. I seemed to be the least likely to get it in terms of risk factors and possible exposure. My guess is that I caught it on the cruise, or possibly the hotel we stayed in the night before. If I had it to do over, I wouldn’t have gone on the cruise. If we had a day or two more to decide, I think we would have seen just how bad things were about to get.
It looks like I’m going to be totally fine. But covid isn’t over. Even if you’re vaccinated with a booster and wear masks, you can still catch it. Those all can reduce the risks significantly, and in the case of the vaccines, it makes it much more likely you’ll have no symptoms or mild ones.
Here’s a couple more articles describing the impact of omicron, how it’s different, and what we can and should do to fight it.
From The Atlantic: How Long Does Omicron Take to Make You Sick: The new variant seems to be our quickest one yet. That makes it harder to catch with the tests we have.
From Forbes (which I don’t cite often, but they debunk Joe Rogan’s dangerous advice about kids not having to worry about covid): Health Advisory: NYC Has 4-Fold Increase In Children Hospitalized For Covid-19 Coronavirus
Everyone has a different level of comfort with risk. I’m proof that even if you’re very careful, you can still get covid. Please stay safe as you plan your New Year’s Eve celebration. Staying at home may be the best option this year, or toning it down and taking every precaution possible if you do need or decide to celebrate. Here’s to hoping for a better 2022!
🚨 Only 5 days left to vote in the monthly poll to help me decide which progressive-friendly cause or organization will get a $50 donation! It only takes a minute.
🚨 Make sure to come back for content on my blog posted Monday through Friday, including the next installment of the new guest post series on Thursday! You can also follow me on Twitter.
