The Coronavirus-and Pip (the bird)

Are we being phished

Not sure why I can't see them.

I have a question mark. Pip is a shapeshifter.

Awww look at that cutie. <3

Have been having Covid/flu like symptoms since Saturday night. Honestly kind of hope it’s Covid because it’s not that severe and getting that super low risk of recontracting it for 90 days will mentally free me up this summer.

Going to get a test tomorrow on my lunch break (working from home the rest of the week after taking off today thankfully), even though those seem to have gotten harder to come by and more expensive now that health insurers can refuse to cover them. If I test positive, what’s my suggested quarantine window? Free on Friday because that’s 5 full days from the start of my symptoms, or need to wait until next Monday because that’s 5 days from the test? Will have to skip out on seeing Meet Me @ The Altar tomorrow night regardless (probably wouldn’t even feel up to it anyways), but had some promising plans for the 3 day weekend I’d rather not give up.

I feel like most people don’t give a shit anymore and will just stay in/go out based on how they feel, and I’m struggling to find that middle ground where I do my due diligence to protect others whilst not torpedoing my social life every time I feel a little sick (which is almost everyday, even though this time it’s clearly a grade above my normal constant allergies).

Fingers crossed, I make it through the next 30 days without contracting COVID again. I probably have more live music on my calendar in this timeframe than in any equivalent period in my very long concert-going history. Most of it is outdoors, but testing positive three days after Boston Calling last year threw me for a complete loop and I'm a few hours away from heading down to this year's edition.

Even though I made it through my first live shows in Dec and Feb since 2019 without catching anything, I wound up cancelling plans for some March and April shows, due to COVID concerns. But I can't continue to sit on the sidelines. While only three or four of my upcoming shows are at indoor venues, I'm also doing three open mics where I'll be telling jokes or reading poetry, and the mask has to come off there while leaning into a mic which a dozen other people just breathed on.

I know, with absolute certainty, that going to shows and performing my own work onstage are among the most healing and positive things I've ever done and I need to go full speed now because failure to do that will likely create or worsen other health issues...body/mind/spirit connection, and all that.

Wish me luck and to paraphrase Van Morrison (who's probably not the first person you want to quote on a COVID thread), it's time to step into the mystic...

Yes, this. Something my therapist told me when I was struggling to get back out into the world is that COVID is not the only harm there is. There is the harm of loneliness, of isolation, of disengagement, of disconnection from the things that, as you say, make staying alive worthwhile. 

Also, something that has helped me is that none of this is all-or-nothing. You have to take your mask off to perform at your open mic...but, OK. You can wear it right up until you go on stage, if you want, bring a Clorox wipe for the microphone, etc. So, you're only fully exposed for a short period of time. If you go maskless at the open mic, that doesn't mean you have to at concerts. It's all a case-by-case risk/benefit assessment. 

I picked up some nasty this week, likely at Zach Bryan. Not Covid, not Strep. Just run of the mill sore throat and nose stuff

Yeah that basically describes what I’ve had. I didn’t end up getting a Covid test because I’ve just not had to go anywhere all week and didn’t have a good one lying around. I’ve had sinus /allergy issues all winter, but this past week it was insane.

Same way I manage other anxiety. It sounds like you have some good strategies and skills based on what you've been posting. First, that's definitely a real fear and I felt it both COVID related and weather related with the recent PS trip and two upcoming fests/concerts with hotels/Airbnbs etc. You'd think I'd wisen up and only book refundable but I normally go with the cheaper deal refundable or not. But I'd say try to stick with refundable options no matter what if it gives you peace of mind. Otherwise to speak to what I do: lift 3x a week to get that energy out, walk the dogs and to and from the bus stop multiple times per day, 20 minute meditation usually with paced breathing and body scans built in and journal after every day, sex, I pray each morning and night (not exactly sure to what, but it helps), listening to a ton of music/distractions. I kind of oscillate between compulsive activities/active coping/distraction to reduce the anxiety/distract myself from the intrusive stimuli/thought/obsession, etc. and sitting with the uncomfortable feeling/more mindfulness based stuff to feel, describe, notice, observe the thought/feeling/thing that's triggering me. Not sure if that's helpful, but that's what I do. I feel like buying festivals and trips are always a risk. I've had flights delayed and been evacuated out of multiple fests due to weather before COVID, so COVID and other illnesses are just an extra layer to the already problem that we can't predict or control these things, but I try to mitigate any risk I can control and my own anxiety and then accept the rest as unknown, scary, unpredictable, but ultimately out of my control. Sorry for the book. Just trying to be helpful and share my experience.

appreciate the legnthy response, that’s all very logical and helpful. I think I have a tendency to hyper-fixate on the Covid of everything, just because the pandemic was such a defining part of like 2.5 years of my life, and forget how risk for things not coming to fruition has existed in dozens of other ways forever. I’m only recently to the point where I’m not considering the Covid risk every time I go do something, finally just saying fuck it and living my life basically exactly how I would’ve before all this.

I have been meditating like 3-4 times a week and am about 2 weeks in to doing a new diet that essentially amounts to keto. Going to be trying to up the exercise soon, I know runs make me feel better. Covid happened essentially right after college for me, so I feel like I’m just now getting around to addressing all these “adult” problems in my life through therapy, reading, & taking action. I think I just really value having these festivals to look forward to as a big release after working on myself day to day, so maybe I need to find even more small pleasures in my daily life so I’m not putting all my entertainment eggs in the basket of events that could fall apart so easily for me.

Every time I start feeling comfortable enough to go at full speed on indoor concerts (albeit masked), something happens to freak me out. I work with a guy 25 years my junior or so who just got COVID for the third time. He's a runner and someone who appears to be in generally good health. I heard this info a week before a 4-day local music festival happening in a small ballroom and a black box theater, which means that I'm not just spending two hours indoors on one occasion but something closer to 15-20 hours over the course of four days. I bought a pass, but didn't go, last year. I'm now thinking that instead of seeing a planned 20 artists or so, I might scale back and catch the half dozen of greatest interest to me.

I do feel like it’s incredible difficult to know when/how much to test. Completely understandable people are testing once when they feel symptoms but not testing day over day to confirm the initial result when insurance doesn’t even cover testing anymore.

I always test a day or two after I have symptoms of a cold/sickness and then again in a day or two (usually a third time as well). Due to my asthma and allergies, I haven't caught anything that has lasted less than 5 days, so I am testing within the window.

I know some people that have had covid multiple times, but it seems some of my friends that didn't catch it within the first two years, haven't caught it a second time, myself included. It makes me wonder why some people are obviously more immune to it than other and if it isn't immunity then what is it?