The Come-Back, Day 4. Testing, Testing.
Our daughter came home on Tuesday evening. From the start, she hadn't been sure whether or not to come, but decided to do so. Only, she tried to stay as far from her father and I as possible, and opted to sleep next door, in the empty house her grandparents had lived in.
Her reason for distancing herself was that she had a slight, scratchy throat and a touch of a runny nose. She blamed it on spending the Sunday evening outside without a jacket as the cool of the night was making an appearance. But she couldn't be completely sure. (Did I mention she's a bit OCD?) So, she made a phone appointment yesterday afternoon with her GP, and insisted on getting tested. The doctor told her she would get a message with the appointment, probably for today.
An SMS reached my phone yesterday evening. At first, I ignored it. I get so many texts that are simply publicity. But, I looked at it, thinking that it might be from the bank because my daughter wanted to make a transfer. (My phone is the clearing house for every transaction everyone makes in this house. It just happened that way.) No, it was from the Sergas, the Galician public health system, saying that my daughter had an appointment at the CovidAuto set up at the Hospital do Barbanza, at 8:40PM on 13 May.
I looked at the calendar. It was Wednesday, the thirteenth. I looked at the clock. It was 7:40PM. "Alex!" I called her next door, she got ready, got her mask on, and we left. I'd never been to the hospital near Ribeira, and, while I knew how to get there, I didn't know how long it would take.
When I got on the short road leading up to it, twenty minutes had passed. It was closer than the hospital at Santiago, where we are always sent. I followed the drive around the hospital, looking for a tent that should have been set up. I finally spy it under a ramp. The nurse waves me to go around. I go up, around what seems an emergency entrance, and down under the ramp. I stop in front of the tent, where there are two nurses, properly covered with personal protection equipment, with a table set up, and a light in the tent. The one sitting is simply wearing a cover-all, gloves, and a mask, while the one standing that will take the sample also has a plastic face cover. We got there so quickly, she still doesn't have the paper with my daughter's appointment, but takes down her details, and then the other nurse goes around the car to her window. She tells my daughter to lean her head back against the seat and look up. She puts the cotton swab into her nostril and swipes it around. Then, she takes it back to the tent and the other nurse tells us we would have the results in twenty-four hours.
The health system in our region seems to have this down pat. Though I really don't think the name is one of the better choices. CovidAuto sounds so much like McAuto, which is the name McDonald's Drive-Thru's have in Spain. Still, I didn't think it was going to be so fast. My brother-in-law was tested, also, but because he lives with his elderly parents, and his father has to go to visit the nurse at the clinic every day for a foot problem. His result came back negative, but two or three days later.
One thing we won't have is herd immunity yet, so the second wave will hit us hard, again. In our region of about four million people, not yet ten thousand have been infected in this first wave. A vaccine will still be a ways in coming, and then there will be idiots who won't want to get it because "they" want to "control" people through vaccines.
Idiots like the ones who stormed various US cities, demanding opening up their quarantines, marched in Madrid these past days, led by ultra-right wing leaders of Vox. Madrid has not passed on to Phase One because it is not prepared; it doesn't have the infrastructure necessary, nor have the infection rates gone down enough. So, Vox called upon people to protest against the government in the wealthy barrio of Salamanca. Most of the people who showed up wore masks, but not all, and the first cry was "Abajo los comunistas!" "Down with the communists!" Their main problem? Both that the Socialists are in power, and that their partner in the government is Podemos, the left-wing party that is the antithesis to Vox. These people also want their "freedoms" back, and don't want the government to "coddle" anyone. Sometimes, I just can't watch the news, or read it without streaming profanity and turning away. There are complete and utter, unempathetic, pathetic, idiotic people in this world.
An Italian illustrator has put up some drawings about the quarantine on Instagram. I can relate to a few.
My daughter? Right now, she's feeling fine and is weeding, something she missed doing while in her apartment in Santiago. Go figure.
Life continues.
Her reason for distancing herself was that she had a slight, scratchy throat and a touch of a runny nose. She blamed it on spending the Sunday evening outside without a jacket as the cool of the night was making an appearance. But she couldn't be completely sure. (Did I mention she's a bit OCD?) So, she made a phone appointment yesterday afternoon with her GP, and insisted on getting tested. The doctor told her she would get a message with the appointment, probably for today.
An SMS reached my phone yesterday evening. At first, I ignored it. I get so many texts that are simply publicity. But, I looked at it, thinking that it might be from the bank because my daughter wanted to make a transfer. (My phone is the clearing house for every transaction everyone makes in this house. It just happened that way.) No, it was from the Sergas, the Galician public health system, saying that my daughter had an appointment at the CovidAuto set up at the Hospital do Barbanza, at 8:40PM on 13 May.
I looked at the calendar. It was Wednesday, the thirteenth. I looked at the clock. It was 7:40PM. "Alex!" I called her next door, she got ready, got her mask on, and we left. I'd never been to the hospital near Ribeira, and, while I knew how to get there, I didn't know how long it would take.
When I got on the short road leading up to it, twenty minutes had passed. It was closer than the hospital at Santiago, where we are always sent. I followed the drive around the hospital, looking for a tent that should have been set up. I finally spy it under a ramp. The nurse waves me to go around. I go up, around what seems an emergency entrance, and down under the ramp. I stop in front of the tent, where there are two nurses, properly covered with personal protection equipment, with a table set up, and a light in the tent. The one sitting is simply wearing a cover-all, gloves, and a mask, while the one standing that will take the sample also has a plastic face cover. We got there so quickly, she still doesn't have the paper with my daughter's appointment, but takes down her details, and then the other nurse goes around the car to her window. She tells my daughter to lean her head back against the seat and look up. She puts the cotton swab into her nostril and swipes it around. Then, she takes it back to the tent and the other nurse tells us we would have the results in twenty-four hours.
The health system in our region seems to have this down pat. Though I really don't think the name is one of the better choices. CovidAuto sounds so much like McAuto, which is the name McDonald's Drive-Thru's have in Spain. Still, I didn't think it was going to be so fast. My brother-in-law was tested, also, but because he lives with his elderly parents, and his father has to go to visit the nurse at the clinic every day for a foot problem. His result came back negative, but two or three days later.
One thing we won't have is herd immunity yet, so the second wave will hit us hard, again. In our region of about four million people, not yet ten thousand have been infected in this first wave. A vaccine will still be a ways in coming, and then there will be idiots who won't want to get it because "they" want to "control" people through vaccines.
Idiots like the ones who stormed various US cities, demanding opening up their quarantines, marched in Madrid these past days, led by ultra-right wing leaders of Vox. Madrid has not passed on to Phase One because it is not prepared; it doesn't have the infrastructure necessary, nor have the infection rates gone down enough. So, Vox called upon people to protest against the government in the wealthy barrio of Salamanca. Most of the people who showed up wore masks, but not all, and the first cry was "Abajo los comunistas!" "Down with the communists!" Their main problem? Both that the Socialists are in power, and that their partner in the government is Podemos, the left-wing party that is the antithesis to Vox. These people also want their "freedoms" back, and don't want the government to "coddle" anyone. Sometimes, I just can't watch the news, or read it without streaming profanity and turning away. There are complete and utter, unempathetic, pathetic, idiotic people in this world.
An Italian illustrator has put up some drawings about the quarantine on Instagram. I can relate to a few.
My daughter? Right now, she's feeling fine and is weeding, something she missed doing while in her apartment in Santiago. Go figure.
Life continues.
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