Tuesday, November 11th, 2020
Last night was super fun.
Turns out my newly acquired neighbors are career diplomats and the husband was in charge of immigration under the Bush administration. He has obviously been retired by the Obama administration and not been called to serve under the current administration. He is also a founder of the Lincoln Project and 43 Alumni against Trump, so obviously we went down the rabbit hole of the election results. Clearly one can be a committed Republican without being a supporter of the current usurper in the W; what a relief! Both are very interesting people and I shall add them to my Christmas invitation list, though I do hope to see them before then. Given their boys (triplets!) are the same age as my friend D’s son, I might have D join the party.
Today was another warm, sunny day and for the afternoon I moved my office outside; possibly for the last time as the weather is to be frightful for the next two days at least. I am hoping for sunshine over the weekend given EM’s plans to go camping. This time though they have cabin rather than tents, courtesy of J’s dad who is giving the trip to his daughter as a birthday gift. She will turn 18 in December and given our travel plans EM cannot join the celebration as we will need to quarantine that week. SO the coming weekend is an early birthday celebration.
I am still hopeful to spend the time, at least some, if not all of it (unlikely) with my brilliant friend. The results of Sunday’s test are not in yet, but we did go for a second test today, which was a vastly different experience to the one on Sunday. In Silver Spring on Sunday there were no lines, but we had to go inside a building to the 7th floor. There were no signs or announcements. We were given a form to complete in the hallway and then a health care worker swipe our nostrils, bagged it and I guess send it of to some laboratory.
The experience at the Friendship Heights Community Center could not have been more different. People wearing yellow vests directed us and others to the testing location. There were signs leading to the venue. Surprisingly there was a line of about eight people in front of us and as we were waiting more kept on coming. While we waited, we again had to complete some paperwork, which was taken to a desk, checked and returned with a laboratory bag.
Testing was inside a large gym with three testing stations each vis a vis an open door. Despite masks we were ushered to a spot in front of the door and asked to face the door. A healthcare worker, attired with full PPE and face shield, came to explain the process. We were each handed a swap and instructed to swipe our nostrils (first the one, then the other) and place the swap in the dial, which the health care worker bagged and sealed. We will be called or receive an email with the results in the coming three days.
This second test felt much more secure and professional then the first. Now all we can do is sit tight and wait for results. The reason results take between 3 – 5 days is the limited capacity of the laboratories. Given we have now been dealing with the pandemic for well over nine months this comes as a surprise. We also now know what to do prior to our Christmas travel. We will probably take the first test at a county facility and the second test at a private laboratory (charging US$270/ test), which provides results for PCR tests within twenty-four hours. So, a Sunday and a Friday test to minimize quarantine time in Germany. Telecommuting has been orally approved in a call I had today, and I was advised that my contract would be extended also.
The political and the virus situation in this country are starting to depress and stress me. The unreasonable fight about the election results is rather trying.
Today the USA added 130k new infections to bring the total to 10.3 million cases out of the global total of 51.2 million. Things will get much worse before they get better. Even if a vaccine were available by the end of the year, which is unlikely as Pfizer is preparing 100million doses for the USA, which would mean 15% of the population can be vaccinated, it would take at least half a year for the vaccination results to take effect. Everyone needs to be prepared for the current situation to continue. My prediction in February was: put life on hold for 12-18 months, and 18 months is what it will likely be.
Biden’s Corona task force member summarized the coming months in a simple statement: the US is entering Corona hell as hospitals have reached capacity and staff is overwhelmed while cases continue to rise as do hospitalizations. The current surge goes back to Labor Day weekend, following which cases have been exploding.
Amidst all of this the WH has hosted another super spreader event, this time an election watch party attended by some 400 unmasked guests. I cannot say I am devasted about this. All who are now infected thoroughly deserve what they have coming. The same applies to States currently featuring high infection rates. Seeing they all cast their ballots for the current policy makers, clearly the choice was ignorance over science, liberty over society, so now you all are at liberty to die.
Science continues to search for and find treatments; some are effective, others not. Even though monoclonal antibody treatments may at best work in the early stage of a COVID 19 infection and at worst be harmful when patients are already hospitalized, the FDA has granted emergency authorization to another antibody treatment.
The President-elect has not only put a team of experts together, tasked with developing a pandemic managemetn plan, but they have commenced their work, despite not being given access to public health officials. However, career civil servants can nonetheless preparing for the new policies as the Biden transition team makes these public.
There is an interesting distinction between emergency use authorization and expanded access, the latter allows access to a possible drug or vaccine while wide spread clinical trials and reporting continues, which is not the case with the former. Of course, the current administration would go for emergency use so that pharmaceutical firms will not be controlled. Ideally approval will only be sought once the new administration is in place.
Now I shall rain proof the outdoor office and head to the park for practice.