— पांच हजार एक सौ नौ —
Much like yesterday, today I have more to tell you about this morning than I do about last night. And again, I'm going to start with this morning.
And I don't want to bury the lede too deepy: Shobhit and I both got COVID tests, and we're both negative! Well, that's with 85% accuracy, so far, anyway. The place did a rapid antigen test
and a PCR test, explaining that if the antigen test is positive then they don't bother with the PCR because false positives on the antigen test are so rare, but with the accuracy on negatives even as low as 85%, they double check with the PCR test which they told us are 99% accurate.
I'll feel even better once we get the PCR results in three to five business days, but I'm feeling pretty confident with with 85% accuracy on the negative rapid test. That's 85% more assurance than we had before finally getting a test booked. Shobhit and I have no both gotten two "exposure notifications" each on our phones—my second one just came yesterday, this time for an apparent exposure 12 days prior. That was December 23, the day I worked my afternoon shift at the Central District store.
The header reads,
You may have been exposed to COVID-19, and below that the first thing it says is
A person you were nea within the last 14 days has tested positive for COVID-19. There's a bunch more, and a link to the same Washington State Department of Health web page of guidelines for next steps depening on vaccination status. The key difference between this notification and the previous, though, as that this one did
not specify that it was "for less than 15 minutes." Besides Shobhit or Ivan, however, I was definitely not around anyone longer than 15 minutes that day, though.
I'm bracing myself for probably several more of these notifications before this current surge is over. And once again, the recommendation was just to get tested—which I finally managed this morning! I suppose in the context of my two notifications, it's a good thing my booked test on Monday last week had to be canceled, because that was on December 27 and my second exposure was on December 23, only four days later. It probably would have covered either exposure but getting the test now was better. Granted, even today was only four days after the family gathering on New Year's Day. I'm still going to basically call it good.
Anyway, about the process. The Northgate GS Labs location is literally across the street, to the east, from the strip mall area on Northgate Way where the Big 5 Sporting Goods Shobhit used to work at was located. He's so convinced that store does so poorly relative to other locations that he thinks it will wind up closing, and even briefly went into that parking lot to see if there were any closure notifications yet. I think he's just being prsumptuous.
Then we crossed the street, and inadvertently defied directions because all of multiple signs reading PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR were obscured by other parked cars. I had booked my test for 7:57 a.m. and Shobhit's for 8:06, thinking they were back to back because no other intervening times were available when I booked. So, Shobhit got all annoyed when cars who had pulled up after us were getting their tests done after I had my test but before his, but once he finally flagged down a guy with a clipboard who could explain that they were doing people booked at 8:00, he calmed down.
I mean, it was well after 7:57 before even I got my test, but whatever. It wasn't that long. It wasn't even that long a wait for Shobhit, who just gets bent out of shape if he sees people who arrived later get helped before him. As for the literal test itself, I'm amazed at how well Shobhit weathers it, not even flinching with the PCR swab being shoved into the back of his head.
We sat in our seats in the car and they administered the tests from outside the open window. I removed my masks entirely when it was my turn, which my nurse said nothing about, but the separate nurse who did Shobhit asked him to keep his mask on and even keep his mouth covered when she put the swabs up his nostrils. Anyway, I was slightly confused at first because even the rapid antigen test swab was surprisingly far back in my nose, and she swabbed both sides with that. I really thought that had been the same as the deep swabs we had gotten before going to Idaho in August 2020—the last time (and the first time) I ever got tested, before this. Boy was I wrong! At leas this time the deeper PCR test swab only necessitated one nostril; in 2020 they did both with even the deep swab. Fuck, is that sensation bizarre. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.
Shobhit commented on how I react before they even get the swabs into me, as though I could help that. Does he not understand how involuntary reactions work?
He decided to stop at Grand Central Bakery on Eastlake on our way home and buy a couple of loaves of bread. When we got home he made me two very tasty slices of toast with butter and raspberry jam, even though I had already had breakfast. They were very tasty.
They had said the rapid test results would be emailed to me within an hour, but to my surprise, I got my results before we even got home. I had to log into my account on my phone, and it was like a suspenseful scene in a movie, I suddenly got so nervous about it. But then I saw that word,
negative, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. The email for Shobhit also came to me, because of the joint account, and that came just after 9:00, also negative.
Shobhit had commented on how big a financial hit it would be if he has to quarantine for five days. Thankfully it looks like we don't have to worry about that, for now anyway. He's still working retail most days though. I really think he should either start double masking or invest in some KN95 masks. Just yesterday I saw the infographic
from this Wall Street Journal article posted by a friend on Twitter, "
Time it takes to transmit an infectious dose of Covid-19." It kind of shook me—and that data was from
before the Omicron variant!
I kind of wish it had included a column for wearing a surgical mask under a cloth mask, though, which I have done a lot and which has been periodically recommended. Either way, only N95 masks on one or both people within transmission range keeps the infectious dose at bay for any length of time longer than the brief interaction of, say, going grocery shopping. And I have regularly been spending two to three hours with people who take their masks off to eat in movie theaters. Which I did as well, before Omicron. Now, it's also relevant to note that this infographic does not fold in any mitigation data regarding being vaccinated, which I'm sure also makes a huge difference—and I didn't even return to movie theaters in 2021 until I was fully vaccinated.
Either way, I'm slowly taking more to the small stash of KN95 masks I do have, which Tracy gave me last year because she said her head was too big for them. I had been thinking for a few months about finally getting more interesting or fun designs of face masks. Do people make fun N95 masks?
— पांच हजार एक सौ नौ —
— पांच हजार एक सौ नौ —
So what about last night, then? I did laundry. Exciting!
I watched a couple episodes of the new season of
The Standups on Netflix.
I made rice and reheated leftover vegetable paneer, and baked some frozen naans, for Shobhit and me to have for dinner.
I decided I would watch another movie for review, after discovering that
The Lost Daughter, which I had initially hoped to see in a theater, was now streaming on Netflix. I think I'll be reviewing movies much more often from streamers or VOD for a bit. I quite liked the movie, if not as much as the incredibly high critical praise might have made me expect.
I gave it a B+.
I probably started the movie, which is slightly over two hours long, around 7:00. It took me a bit longer than the run time to finish because I had to break to put away the first load of laundry. It then took me a bit over an hour, as is typical, to write and post the review. By the time that was done, it was time to do my every-other-day exercises and then start getting ready for bed.
I would have loved to watch this movie in the living room, but I was pretty certain it would have no appeal to Shobhit, and I didn't even know how to offer him a succinct synopsis of it to begin with. I suppose the greatest appeal I could make was that Olivia Colman is all but guaranteed to get an Oscar nomination for this movie, but that also means she is all but guaranteed to get a SAG Awards nomination, and that means Shobhit will indeed receive a screener of this movie. I guess those nominations are announced January 12, so presumably he'll start getting screeners shortly after that. Not that it makes much difference in this case given that the movie is on Netflix anyway, but the nomination might prompt him to watch the movie later. I actually did like it enough that I would watch it again.
In any case, for last night, I watched on my computer in the bedroom. It's a unique and very well made film, so I do recommend it, although I think the number of people I know who might be interested is probably limited.
I did text Danielle a link to the movie saying she might like it, and she had already watched it! She happened also to be on her lunch break at work and we wound up on the phone for about ten minutes, although that was mostly about some frustrating conversations with her mom after they had gone to see
Licorice Pizza last week. Danielle actually texted me about that one last week asking why critics love it so much, and I kind of struggled to answer. Even though I really liked it too—but unlike many, many critics, it was not on my top ten. Anyway I guess Danielle just had four days off and "Apparently I love sitting on my couch," so
The Lost Daughter was one of the things she watched. She noted that it was very slow at first, which is very true, but in the end she loved it. I thought she might relate to it, as an often frustrated mother.
— पांच हजार एक सौ नौ —
[posted 12:40 pm]
