So You Think You Might Have COVID?
If you have COVID symptoms right now, what's next?
If you have COVID symptoms right now, here’s how it’s very likely to go:
You start feeling sick. Maybe a fever, sore throat, upset stomach, bad headache, and so on.
You check your temperature. (Oops, don’t have a thermometer? You’ll need to go to a drugstore feeling sick, have someone go for you, or wait a few days for an Amazon delivery. (Which are slower than usual due to weather, holidays, and COVID-related labor shortages.)
What’s your oxygen saturation? You don’t have to be feeling short of breath to have an O2 level that is dangerously low. Don’t have a home pulse oximeter to check? Uh oh. Hard to find them at drugstores and even online... if you have one and check and it’s less than 92, you need to head to the hospital, pronto.
Try to get tested for COVID. If you have a rapid home test on hand, that's great. But remember...they are not as accurate as they should be at detecting Omicron. (But, you CAN also swab your throat in addition to your nose for greater accuracy.) Don’t have a rapid home test on hand? Good luck finding them. Many drugstores and online outlets are sold out. (You can order them on Amazon, but note that they won’t even ship for 14 days as of early January.)
If you can't find a rapid test kit, you'll need a PCR test. And the next available appointment for a PCR test? 2, 3 days or maybe even more. Or you could try a walk-in testing facility - and wait in line for 2, 3 or 4 hours...
Wherever you get them, PCR results will come back in uh, 48 or 72 hours, or, like a friend of mine here in Washington, DC, 5 days.
Positive? Call your doctor for an appointment. You’re in luck. Next available appointment is when? I’ve heard people offered the first available appointment with their doctor…7 days later!
Can’t get into the doctor, and having symptoms? Head to the ER. You’re likely to #142 in line. You *may* be seen by someone, sometime in the next 24 hours. (Bring food, water, a phone charger, and make sure you have GOOD masks!!)
Need to be hospitalized? (Hopefully not.) But if you are, plan on a gurney in the hall for quite a while, if not days.
Get my drift?
COVID does not discriminate and no matter how vigilant you are, you can still be exposed.
But you can lower your odds of exposure by doing EVERYTHING possible NOT to get COVID.
If You Haven’t Gotten COVID…Yet
Now is NOT the time to take risks. But it IS the time to BE PREPARED!!!
Make sure you have on hand:
KN95 or N95 Masks — NO cloth or flimsy paper masks
KN95 Masks - Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3t1TE8A
N95 Masks - Amazon link: https://amzn.to/34rorRZ
A thermometer
A pulse oximeter “pulse ox” device
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3nlzW47
Rapid COVID home tests
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/3HIBRaD
Order the above items NOW! Today! The day you start feeling sick, you’ll thank me!
But meanwhile, DON’T go to bars, restaurants on public transportation, or indoor crowded places if you can avoid it. I don’t care what mask you’re wearing. Even double vaxxed, boosted and masked, you can get infected by the Omicron variant.
Frankly, if you can, avoid crowds PERIOD.
Catching COVID is not a moral failing, or an indictment on your efforts, but PLEASE do everything possible to AVOID catching it right now.
And remember, even if you have a mild or moderate case and don’t need the hospital, you have a 20-50% chance of Long COVID (10-25% if you're double-vaxxed). And you do NOT want Long COVID.
Here’s why!
