Day 5 - COVID19: 24 to 48 Hours Later

Results

DAY 5: I'm writing this Friday post exactly two weeks since T.J. found out his friend's results.

It must have been around mid-day Friday when I asked T.J. if he had heard back from Jeff. It wasn't the first time or even the last time I'd ask him that day. There still wasn't an answer. Jeff wasn't allowed to leave his sky-rise apartment. The authorities hadn't decided what to do with him just yet.

I remember asking T.J. at the start if he knew where Jeff had traveled.  He knew it was Austria but not exactly where in Austria. I recall making the comment that Italy's northeast border is shared with Austria. Italy was an epicenter of the epidemic in the European and Mediterranean region. T.J. said he doubted Jeff had been exposed to the virus in Austria but that it was most likely in Germany. Jeff had had a connecting flight through Germany.

Earlier that week, on the same day T.J. heard the news from Jeff (Wednesday, March 11), the World Health Organization (WHO) had labeled the spread of the virus a pandemic. Several other epicenters were starting to appear all over on the world map visuals the news channels would show. 

Late in the afternoon T.J. finally heard from Jeff. It had been just a little over 48 hours since Jeff had gotten tested.  It was Friday, March 13. The week also happened to be a full moon week. Ah, when we start thinking of all these odd connections, it does make you wonder...

Jeff's results where positive.

As soon as he found out Jeff's results T.J. called the Health Department. T.J. could now confirm that he was in contact with someone who tested positive. The Health Department wasn't much help though.  

He was concerned. He had been around his co-workers and obviously his family. He had to figure out how to get tested. One of T.J.'s friends from his office had sent him a message letting him know that a tent was being set up outside our local hospital. The hospital was trying to create a center to attend the possible influx of coronavirus patients.

T.J. immediately made the trip to the hospital. When he got there he stood in line with three other people. He pretty much got there right when the tent operation opened. T.J. did have a mask on while he waited in line. He also purposely kept his distance from the other people. The Hospital's set-up was a bit of a fiasco, however. People were coughing everywhere. There were already people inside the tent. Maybe it was just a common cold or another chest infection for many, but who knows. Some man was saying he worked at a major electronic retail chain and wanted to get tested no matter what. By this time the news channels were already informing the public how there just weren't enough tests for people to get tested. If you wanted to get tested the only way it was going to happen was if you were pretty much showing extreme symptoms or could confirm you had contact with someone who had tested positive. At the same time, Governor DeSantis was saying that there would be free testing sites available. People probably didn't catch the "would be" part of his message because the testing sites wouldn't be up and running yet. That would take almost over a week to happen here in South Florida. 

When a nurse finally approached T.J. she immediately had him sit apart in a bench. The first thing he told her was that he had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus. He didn't even go into the tent. He was separated from everyone. He was then taken into an isolated room inside the hospital. They used a cotton swab to take cell samples from his nasal cavity and another one from his throat. Now he just had to wait 24 to 48 hours for the results.

That week T.J. hadn't completely isolated himself at home because it was just a possibility. He was being careful. He used a mask at home and was conscious of washing his hands. He kept his distance, but we were all still in the same rooms.We were quarantining ourselves from his family, our friends, and the public in general. While everyone was panic buying toilet paper, T.J. and I were just watching the news and reading the memes. Joseph, well, he was playing with his monster trucks and asking us to dance with him to Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex. Watch it in Spanish if you can. Rex is un aguafiestas.

So now we knew that Jeff tested positive for coronavirus. Yet we still held hope on the possibility that T.J. would test negative.

I always feel that the waiting part is the most nerve-wrecking feeling in any situation.

T.J. looked stressed and tired. Who wouldn't, right? Plus we figured he was still dealing with jet lag from his 16 hour return flight.

24 to 48 hours. Not much of a wait time. It's nothing...

On a side note, I was right. Just a few days ago this week a news article stated that an Austrian ski resort was the culprit for a hefty number of people testing positive for coronavirus. (The article popped up on my feed. Mmmm, how did Google know I was curious to have more information about Austria?) T.J. forwarded the article to Jeff and asked him if that was the ski resort he had traveled to. Jeff was in shock. It was the same place.

If you're curious to know what's going on with Jeff as of today, Friday, March 27th, well, he's in an isolated medical prison type facility. The facility is 30 miles away from the city. The country where he lives and works does not believe in the civil liberties that we take for granted here in our good ol' U.S. of A.