Tests...

Fred Meyer has the antibody tests for Covid-19. I scheduled an appointment for today. It's $25 and only takes 15 minutes to get results. It's the finger prick which always sucks, but I decided that it would be worth it just to know. 

I'm pretty sure I don't have them. But there is a part of me that is like...well...I was sick in February and March and they were weird illnesses for me. Fever and fatigue. But at the time we were still not really thinking that everything was Corona and we thought it was a really specific set of symptoms. I had the fever, sure, but no dry cough and difficulty breathing. Now the umbrella of symptoms is bigger so, maybe?

And again for $25 I decided it was worth it.

I asked Brent if he wanted one and he said no. It wouldn't change anything we are doing after all. Even if it came back as positive for the antibodies we'd still hang out at home, wear a mask when we had to go out, socially distance and avoid crowds. So why bother? 

Which fair point. But still, if you can know something don't you want to know?

So I made an appointment. I decided on today to make sure that I was in the clear from Christopher's visit over the holiday. That thin chance of him catching it again and bringing it home, that I talked about. Like Brent said, we won't change any behaviors even knowing that the chances of catching it again are slim. 

But still...so I made the appointment. 

And got the call from them last night that they ran out of tests so I don't get one. At least not until they get more. Whenever that happens. Which was pretty frustrating. You know how many tests you have, you know how many appointments are scheduled. Don't you make sure you have the tests for the appointments? But no. 

Which has been fairly typical of this whole time period. Testing has been hard to come by. Originally the tests to see if you had it were impossible to get. Then there was/is the rapid test but there is a 50% chance that a negative result is false. A coin flip chance that your negative test is really negative so you have to get the longer test anyway. And again, those aren't as available as the White House would like you to believe. If you call your doctor you might or might not get a recommendation for a test. And then if you do you are going to be waiting in a very long line hoping they don't run out before you get to the front. 

Because of this I'm not super optimistic about the vaccine timelines. We're already seeing that the amount of vaccine the White House had been saying would be available the end of this month isn't the amount. It's a tenth of their original number. A tenth.

And we keep saying, well for those of us who aren't in the high risk group it will be the spring. But listening to a podcast the other day that did a break down of the actual numbers and their estimate for production timelines and actual doses needed (remember everyone needs two shots) it will be YEARS before we get everyone vaccinated. 

Now, sure, we live in a richer country so we will probably be far ahead of the poorer countries. And we have a large contingent of anti-vaxxers that might help our supply lines at the start. But still, we could be looking at a much longer time before we reach herd immunity between vaccines and recovered. 

We've got some experience here. We meaning me and Brent. When we turned 50 our doctor told us we could/should get the new shingles vaccine. It takes two doses. So we needed to get the first dose and schedule the second. Great. I've had friends who have gotten shingles and no way do I want any of that so sign me up! And Brent got the chicken pox at 29 and it was bad enough. He doesn't want shingles either so as much as he hates needles he was in. 

We just got our shots this year. 

Not from procrastination but from supply. We couldn't get it. Sometimes I would get a pharmacy that had the first dose but couldn't guarantee they would have the second for me and if you wait too long after the first dose you have to start over. So no thank you. 

Two years. It took two years to get a shingles vaccine. That is only for people over 50 but under a top end age (not sure what it is, I only cared about the 50). So limited population and still it took two years. 

We are talking about everybody. Everybody, everywhere. (sorry about the earworm but I'm cutting back on sugar and feeling ornery)

So do we think we will all be able to be vaccinated and back to some sort of normal by the spring? The summer? Another year?

I'm trying to be optimistic but I'm just not sure. 

And if we add to that a petty and vindictive man who LOST the election and won't admit he LOST the election who you could absolutely see working to sabotage the incoming administration so they don't get credit for getting everyone vaccinated? Well...

I hope I'm wrong. 

I hope that things go quickly and we all get the opportunity to go back to public spaces safely. 

I'm hopeful but only because I really want to have concerts and sporting events and shows again.

Hope. 

But not belief.