Despite being fully vaccinated, I got Covid. I don't mean I asymptomatically tested positive for the virus, which is not that uncommon among the vaccinated; I mean, I got Covid. I have been quite sick the past few days, and I'm still not 100%. I'm apparently in the body-aches phase of the sickness. My back is killing me, and a friend who also got a breakthrough case told me the same thing happened to him. I do feel cheated, if I'm being honest, getting vaccinated and still getting sick, but maybe it would be worse if I didn't. I mean, I've had pretty much every symptom imaginable -- cough, headache, body aches, sore throat, running nose, sneezing, exhaustion -- with the notably exceptions of chest pain and shortness of breath. If I stay alive and out of the hospital, the vaccine worked? I guess so, but I would've preferred it worked better. I also was lamenting the fact I got the J&J vaccine instead of waiting to get one of the other ones, but my aforementioned friend got Pfizer and ended up in a similar boat. So, it's probably just a product of a vaccine -- any vaccine -- being good, but not perfect. Nine out of ten is great for society as a whole; it's awful for that tenth person.
It also goes to show how dangerous the delta variant is and how it changes (or should change) the safety heuristics we adopted in the spring when we were all getting vaccinated and it looked like we might be on our way out of this thing. I don't know for sure I got delta, but I strongly suspect that's the case. What happened is, we got a beach house on the Outer Banks with some (vaccinated) friends, and our second night there, they got a text saying one of the kids in their six-year-old's camp tested positive for Covid. Apparently, they live in a delta hot spot. In retrospect, we should have asked that their kids got tested before we shared a house with them. But this didn't occur to me because the safety protocols are so different in our DC neighborhood than they are in southern North Carolina where our friends live. Here it's just a given that kids have been recently tested because they test them every ten days at camp or school. It's not like that everywhere in the country (although it should be). I also didn't bother to check what the case rate was like near where they lived. So, it was mostly bad luck, but we were a little bit complacent
Anyway, after getting the email, our friends' other son, a toddler, started hacking and wheezing, so everybody got scared, and the families stayed apart for the rest of the night. They got rapid tests the next day and their older son came back positive (but weirdly not their younger son, who was the only one actually showing symptoms). They then left.
S and the boys and I all felt fine but figured we should play it safe, so we left the next day (Wednesday). That was a good move as during the drive home we all started feeling sick -- a lot of coughing and sneezing. We got tested Thursday and kept our distance/wore masks as we waited for the results. S and Lil' S2 seemed to be okay, but Lil' S1 and I were laid up in our rooms all day.
I was convinced the two of us had it at least, but then their results all came back negative. This made me think I didn't have it, as I probably just had whatever Lil' S1 had. But then I got my results and I was positive. I haven't really left my room since then. It's so strange that I would get it, being vaccinated, and Lil' S1 and Lil' S2, who aren't, didn't, especially considering they were in direct contact with this boy much more than me. Lil' S1 shared a bedroom with him, and Lil' S2 was grabbing and wrestling him every chance he got. But I would much rather have myself get it than my kids.
Thankfully, we have a house that can accommodate my quarantine. We actually have an entire basement that's like a separate apartment, but S's sister is staying there at the moment, so I can't use it. But it's a net positive overall, as she can help S with the kids, which is much more important than me having space. I mean, how much room do I need to nap and watch old football games on YouTube? (Plus, my bedroom is significantly bigger than a studio apartment I lived in for a year in Bellingham, WA.)
At the moment, I'm just focusing on getting better, but we are going to have to make some decisions very soon, because we have a trip planned to the PNW to visit my family. In theory, we could still do it within the stated safety guidelines. Thursday will be ten days since contracting the virus, so we could all get rapid tests on Thursday and, assuming we are all negative, fly out Friday. It would be just as safe as if I never got the disease -- safer even, because we would have gotten tested the day before.
In practice, I don't know if it will work out that way. I don't even know if we will feel like traveling, and I don't want to spook my family. It's not totally rational, but not totally irrational either. If nothing else, this is a reminder that the delta variant is no joke and there is still reason to tread cautiously. Maybe it's better to wait until things calm down -- I've heard some epidemiologists posit that the delta variant is going to burn out in the next few months, as everybody either gets it or gets vaccinated (or both, as the case may be). And the vaccine for children under 12 is coming soon... right?
On the other hand, what happened to me was a low probability event (and assuming I get better in a day or two, as expected, ultimately not that bad). How much do you want to base your life decisions on low probability events (that ultimately aren't that bad)? It's a confusing time, to say the least.
Until next time...
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