Tuesday night. Xgf might have covid. Five days ago, she went to a “celebration of life” ceremony: a friend of hers had died of cancer. There were multiple people present. She said they were mostly socially distancing, but she didn’t mention whether she wore a mask, and there were long Buddhist chants involved… It might end up being like the choir cluster months ago, where almost everyone got infected…

Xgf says she developed most of the typical symptoms today, though maybe it’s just food poisoning caused by bad beef after her refrigerator issues two days ago. Regardless, I’ll swing by after work tomorrow to drop off my personal thermometer and oximeter. (Already ordering replacements for myself.) She may need them, and the oximeter in particular is a damn good way to determine when it’s time to hurry to the nearest hospital.

Here is hoping she doesn’t have it. If she does…

In covid news, which is basically just the US news these days: they caught two elderly Floridians who drove to northern Ontario (allegedly to check up on their property) and failed to self-quarantine for two weeks. That was folloed by fines of $1,000, close monitoring, and major scorn of everyone on social media. (Which, as we know, is the worst punishment there is.) One of my favourite authors, Joseph Fink, wrote that the covid-testing process in New York is insanely long, confusing, and costs $40 rather than being free. He suggested that may be deliberate in order to keep reporting fewer new cases… Maybe he’s onto something, or maybe it’s just plain old bureaucratic stupidity.

And in a potentially sinister twist, the White House has changed the rules, and now US hospitals will have to report their covid numbers to the HHS (Health and Human Services) rather than the CDC. The consensus is that this change will not result in increased transparency, openness, or accurate covid reporting. It really is amazing that at this point in the game, with refrigerated trucks on their way to overfilled morgues and at least 138,000 deaths, the government still thinks they can sweep this under the rug. When the Chernobyl mini-series came out a year ago, a lot of folks laughed and said that dictatorships always fail when it comes to disasters. And yet… Heh.

Off to get something resembling eight hours of sleep. May tomorrow be marginally better.