And Now . . .

We arrived In Southern California March 10. Airports were not busy but not empty. Our flights from Albuquerque to Orange County via Phoenix were not full, but not completely empty either. There were few face masks, but I saw lots of people using hand sanitizer all the time.

We got to my sister's, and all was good, our luggage even arrived on time.

And then . . my son called. Our plans were to visit my sister until this coming Friday, then drive up to northern LA to see my oldest son and his wife. They just got back from a conference in Jackson Hole Wyoming. They both came back sick.

In Jackson Hole they met and mingled with people from not just the western US, but from all over the world -- Jackson Hole is an international destination, not just a US ski spot. And their flights took them through LAX.

Both came back, 5 days after their arrival in Jackson Hole, with bad coughs, fever, and aches. On day 4 after their return my son called Urgent Care and reached a very overwhelmed nurse who told him there were no tests to be had anywhere. None. Since he could not be tested for Covid19 and since he felt the worst he's ever felt with fever and cough, he should stay home for 14 days and avoid absolutely any and all contact.

Updated March 13:

Of course our visit to go see him is now off, mostly to keep us (over 70, some health issues) safe, but also because he simply doesn't feel good. He says this does not feel like regular flu at all, much worse, but since there is no way to test that, he has to quarantine himself just in case.

I am so disappointed not to see him on this visit. I'm also disappointed that without tests for the virus, sick patients are on their own to figure out what to do -- avoid all contact? see at least family? go shopping to get supplies in? quarantine completely?

The default without testing, of course, is to treat every single case of illness as a pandemic disease, just in case, and quarantine everybody for weeks. Is this going to work?