Did you know the CDC has a calculator that tells you what steps to take when you’re
exposed to COVID?  Now you do.

And so do I. One of my cubemates tested positive this morning. He thinks he picked it up over the weekend, but in my opinion, he probably picked it up sooner. It really depends on the variant, but a lot of them don’t show up on a test that quickly. It’s usually five days.

Well, we were both in on Friday and talked a bit, so I consider myself exposed. I feel fine and have had five COVID vaccines, including the bivalent in September, but I went to the CDC website to figure out what I should do because people, have you ever Googled “exposed to covid what to do no symptoms?” So much conflicting guidance. I’m not talking about woo-mongering antivax sites, either. I’m talking about university medical center sites, health systems sites, WebMD (hey, don’t knock it, I used to freelance for them and can tell you the citations requirements are onerous, to say the least), and mainstream media.

I’m following the CDC guidance, which says I should get tested on Thursday, and then again on Saturday. It also says I should mask up in public through Sunday, but as I am sick to death of masking and the weather is largely going to be lousy until Monday, I am staying home barring grocery/CVS/testing runs until then. (“Oh, no! Not the briar patch!” cried the introvert.)

This does throw a wrench into a bunch of plans, but I really don’t want to spread this around and ruin anyone’s holidays should I be infected.

At the risk of tempting fate, as I mentioned in another entry, I have managed to avoid getting it so far. Or, I have managed to avoid it as far as I know, as any time I’ve had even the slightest symptoms, I’ve tested negative. It’s strange, given that I take public transportation and Metro is a Petri dish, but there it is. There are studies to suggest that people who eat a plant-based diet are less likely to contract the virus and less likely to get severe symptoms if they do contract it, regardless of vaccination status. I’d been a pescatarian since 2009, until about a month ago when I went largely vegan, barring mistakes, ignorance, and oddball circumstances. (Never would have thought some brands of plain ol’ vegetable soup use eggs or milk?) I hope I can keep my streak going.

I will say this, because it’s my blog and I can, but no one will ever convince me that this whole pandemic isn’t a direct result of humanity’s exploitation of animals as commodities. I sincerely believe that there would be a LOT more vegetarians and vegans if people only saw the absolutely filthy and abhorrent conditions the animals they eat are born into, live short miserable lives in, and die in. Hint: You wouldn’t be too healthy if you had to stand in one place all day long, shoulder-to-shoulder with your neighbor, sleep on feces- and urine-covere concrete or wire, and eat food with feces, urine, blood, dirt, feathers, and other debris in it, all while being shot up with hormones and fed a diet designed to make you as huge as possible, right? Well, that’s what factory farming is. Never mind cruelty and the environment. Animal farming is just plain dirty and gross, and pathogens love dirty and gross, like the obscenely filthy wet market where the coronavirus that gave us COVID jumped from animal to humans. Hard pass.

Plus, when your baking is vegan, you can lick the spoon and not have to worry about salmonella. It’s the little things.