Alaska: Covid-19 and me-part one

On the road in Alaska with sister, Elaine, and my brother-in-law, Bob.

August 20, 2022, Saturday, Juneau Alaska

Quick notes about my Covid-19 infection, written about 12 hours after we’d discovered it, the incident early morning while waiting for the ferry between Juneau and Skagway, written around 2 pm yesterday. To be expanded.

At the ferry terminal, Thursday, Aug. 18, by 530 am. Feel lousy with runny nose, phlegmy cough, lassitude, general body ache. Elaine insists I take a Covid-19 antigen self-test. Tell-tale bar is thick which she says indicates lots of Covid virus in me. Cancel ferry trip. Drop me off at the hospital’s ER where I am examined, not given a PCR which surprised Elaine and Bob. Prescribed and supplied with a five-day regimen of Paxlovid which I start taking when home. Continue and deepen isolation in lower room, Elaine’s old office. They bring me food and beverages, treat me with much compassion. Bob says, another lesson in impermanence. Always a good way to look at surprise.

Long morning nap, feel better, lunch outside by the garage, short walk, a second open-eye (non-sleeping) nap rumored to be good for insomnia (which I continue to experience). Talk with SF which helps me feel better. Elaine reports her own Covid-like symptoms, cough, etc.

One question, not the key one, is where I got this pesky little devil. Probably the planes or airports where, as I’ve reported, only about 1/5 of the people wore masks. And I didn’t—my major miscalculation. I’ll never know where I got the virus. Symptoms began precisely at the five-day point after my flight. Twice, Massachusetts and Alaska reported to me via contact tracing that I’d had close contact with a Covid carrier, but gave no other info. I wonder if I should find that app and report my condition. Another question I have is about transmission in the plane when everyone drops their masks to eat.

The string of consequences from my Covid infection:

• Canceled our ferry trip.
• Scratched our trip to Atlin, British Columbia which is, for them, crucial before the winter so they can winterize their house, and important for me not only for the general visit but my Nakba slideshow next Monday. (I asked my Atlin Globe Theater host, Heather, if we might put it online via zoom.)
• Forced Dave and Sue, who were to reside at the S’s while their home was renovated, to find alternative housing.
• Tightened my downstairs lockup, imposed new restrictions.
• Locked me into not only home isolation but general isolation—for a minimum of five days if the Paxlovid kills the virus—in town and elsewhere.
• Adds to their work providing me food and beverage. Increases their worries about their own infection.

More consequences might appear to me.

A list of infection source probabilities, no certainties. How was I infected?

• Airplanes and airports, the most likely.
• Something before that, maybe with Susan R to the airport, or even before that. The least likely probability.
• Linda when she visited on the first or second day of my arrival in Juneau and we were unmasked on the deck and sat close together inside. I don’t recall if we were then masked. She like me is loose with Covid protocols.
• On the first ferry, although we stayed masked inside and outside unmasked, probably safe on the open deck.

This is all based on the assumption that Covid requires 3-5 days to manifest with symptoms and positive test results. I tested negative up to 2 days ago, the day before we drove to the ferry. At the moment of this writing, I continue to exhibit Covid symptoms: cough, headache, general body unease.

Barnacles

Mushroom

Mushrooms

Skunk cabbage

TO BE CONTINUED