Darn Covid

(What is this? A blog that posts on a day other than Saturday?

Why yes. Yes it is.

My Grumpy and Grateful Labor Day update.)

My daughter and I were set to embark on an adventure tomorrow, a trip that we’ve planned for months.

Two of her roommates just tested positive for Covid.

Bother.

So far? She feels fine and is testing negative. But now there are so many unknowns! Will she continue to test negative? Will she test negative until we are on our trip and then test positive when we are away from home? What would we do then? Should I spend all day packing and getting ready for the trip, or should I wait and see how she feels later on today? At some point, I’m going to have to pack. Packing is one of my least favorite parts of going on a trip.

Here’s a grateful thing: The FDA extended the expiration dates on the 12 at-home Covid tests that have been living in my medicine cabinet. They look like they are expired, but actually, they are still good! So if we do go on our trip, we can test and test and test some more along the way, especially as our adventure draws to a close and we have to reenter real life again and be around people we love who have agreed to pick us up from the airport but who have immunocompromised folks in their lives.

Our current plan: let’s act as if everything is going to work out fine.  So that means packing, and taking my plants up to the neighbor’s so they will not suffer from a closed up house and record high heat when I am gone. Have her test tonight (Monday). Hope that the test is still negative. Have her test tomorrow morning before I get on a plane and head her way. Hope (again) that the test is negative. Although, if she is going to test positive, tomorrow morning would be a great time to do it, so I can cancel all the things, including my Southwest flights. But if all is well? Book a hotel room close to the airport and have her stay with me Tuesday night, abandoning my frugal-self’s initial plan to spend the night on her apartment’s couch, because. Well. Two of her roommates have Covid. Test Wednesday morning at the hotel, and if all is well, head out on our trip. Continue to test daily while on the road. Continue to wear masks to protect people around us.

If she tests positive after I fly to LA?

That’s the worst case scenario. All I could do would be to change my return flight and figure out a way to get home, as best as I can. And wear an N-95 mask for forever or at least the next 10 days.

It’s another layer of difficulty for life now, along with these record breaking high temperatures and fire weather watch days.  It makes it hard to plan anything that gets you out of the house, out into the world, which is where I find so much life, but not worth it if it could potentially expose others to Covid.

I had planned to post a rerun blog for this week’s entry (have to keep the weekly posting streak alive), and write my Sunday letter today, telling my mailing list friends that I was traveling, didn’t have internet access, and would check in next week with a report of our adventures. Instead, I’ll post this today and will wait and see what happens. If you don’t hear anything else from me, then my daughter continued to test negative for Covid, and I have no internet, and all is well. If you do hear from me, it probably means that we had to cancel our trip and I will have a few things to grump about in my Sunday letter.

(Don’t get my Sunday letter? There’s a handy sign up form on the “About Robin” part of my website. Would love to have you join me there.)

I still believe that all things work together for good somehow. And if this trip doesn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to be. Who knows why? But it’s something I try to trust. Will keep you posted. This is a developing story.