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I tested positive for covid Saturday morning. Still fully asymptomatic, straight through to now as I write this, and am still working from home as already planned. The pink line was faint, but it was definitely there. Having not gotten sick at all, I still fully credit the booster shot I'm so very grateful I got in September.
Shobhit, for his part, actually tested negative Saturday morning—I tested us both. So I went out to the living room to say: "Well, I've got good news and I've got bad news."
It can be so hard to decide when to keep testing, without feeling like I'm wasting a test. These things are expensive. I rather wish now that I had tested again on Wednesday. For all I know, I've been positive since then. We could have not bothered sticking to separate rooms. We stopped bothering with that as of Saturday night. I just didn't test again because I was working from home anyway, and figured I would test again if symptoms developed—which, so far, they haven't.
I even got on a telehealth appointment with a doctor Saturday, mostly because Shobhit was so sure that I should start taking Paxlovid, and he was trying to convince me to start with some of
his prescription and then regard that as borrowed until I could pay him back with my own prescription—something I was certain was a bad idea, but Shobhit was never going to shut up about it unless I spoke to a doctor. The only Virginia Mason doctor available was at the Edmonds clinic, and he got on a video call with me between patients, so it was brief. But after answering a bunch of questions about symptoms or lack thereof, the doctor said he would fill the prescription in case I needed it, but said I had no need to take it unless symptoms started. The whole point of this medication is only to shorted duration of illness, so if I'm not ill then there's no point in taking it.
And, so far, I haven't. I did pick up the prescription—actually Shobhit walked down to Walgreens to pick it up for me, just as I picked his up for him on Thursday—but I haven't taken any. Laney told me way back when she had covid that it's really gross and leaves a metallic taste in your mouth, and Shobhit has since reported basically the same. I'm happy to not be taking it.
Furthermore, given that Shobhit tested negative on Saturday (and although he's still coughing—very typical for him; he'll keep coughing for months after just a standard cold—he was feeling better by Friday), that means he tested negative five days after testing positive. If by chance I have a similar trajectory, and assuming I was positive before I tested on Saturday, I plan to test next tomorrow morning; it seems plausible I
could test negative by then. I'm working from home Monday through Wednesday this week no matter what, but I plan to test a second time on Thursday. I've ready that you're basically okay to re-enter society if you test negative twice 48 hours apart, in which case I can feel okay going to the all-POS meeting scheduled at the Burien store on Thursday, which I'd really like to attend.
I plan to test a third time on Saturday, when I have plans with Laney—the earliest plans we kept in place after we rescheduled others between last week and then—just for both our peace of mind. Even if I still test positive tomorrow (though I really hope I don't), that will give me a chance still to test negative twice 48 hours apart by Saturday.
In any case, as you can see, I've got a game plan.
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I did still go out on Saturday. Don't panic! I didn't go anywhere near people. Shobhit and I have both been wearing masks indoors, which in my case has only been in our building, the couple of times to and from the car; there was no one around in the hallways or lobby either. And then, we went to do some hiking at Discovery Park, which is Seattle's biggest park and was thus very easy to stay way away from people. Most of the time there weren't even any people in sight, the mostly full parking lots notwithstanding.
It was quite lovely, and this had been my idea: I suggested to him that we go to Discovery Park if he tested negative on Saturday. He did, so we did. He was super behind on his steps as he hadn't left home in five days, so this was a perfect suggestion to make. It was partly sunny and just warm enough for some light hiking. It was a beautiful day and we were both really happy to have gone out.
We did a similar thing yesterday, walking through Volunteer Park, which is admittedly much smaller than Discovery Park but we were still able to stay well away from people.
Other than that, we just watched TV or movies all weekend. I actually reviewed
The Lost Bus after we watched it on Apple TV Saturday—not only the first streaming movie I reviewed in 2025, but the first streaming movie I reviewed since September last year (the Netflix documentary
Will & Harper). I'm not fully averse to reviewing movies released to streamers, but they have to be something that would have been released in theaters pre-pandemic—big stars, a big director, or otherwise having a significant cultural interest.
The Lost Bus was directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera, so it certainly qualified. There's always a few such movies each year, although Netflix Oscar bait at least tends to get a small theatrical window so I go see those in theaters if I can.
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[posted 12:35pm]
