Life in the Age of Corona

A Daily Diary

Thursday, November 26th, 2020

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving.

After I asked everyone to take a COVID-19 test I am the only one who cannot produce any results. It is rather frustrating as I fear MoCo may have lost my test. While the nurse finds me in the system and tells me, my test is still being processed, the tracking website claims my details have not been submitted by the county yet. Very frustrating.

So, I made an appointment for a rapid test, just to find the clinic closed upon arrival - in observance of Thanksgiving. There was nothing I could do, but return home. EM however got her test results and they were negative, so I guess she is my canary in the coal mine.

After a leisurely morning with breakfast in bed, we set out to prepare the sides and desert. EM cleaned the beans and the brussels sprouts while I proceeded to make our tropical fruit salad for desert. I fear, we will be having that for a few breakfasts to come. I then went of for my swim before dealing with the Turkey.

I stuffed it with a mix of chestnuts, apples, cranberries, Tyme, rum soaked prunes and bread, a mixture I had prepared the day before. Once its legs were tied together and the cavity was closed, I stuffed two pounds of herb butter under the skin of its breasts. A thoroughly weird experience. Of it went into the oven for an hour, while I peeled garlic and potatoes. It cooked for three and a half hours altogether. Every twenty minutes I braised it with the Beer – Worchester sauce mix it had chilled in over night.

We had a fabulous meal of roasted brussels sprouts, green beans in garlic butter, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing on the side, stuffing from inside the Turkey, sweet potato marshmallow mash, cranberry sauce and gravy. This was followed by a tropical fruit salad, a pumpkin pie and apple tart, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. No one can say there wasn’t enough food! Before the meal we sat around the fire pit and diminished a bottle of Prosecco. After the meal we returned to the fire pit with some red wine. It was a beautiful evening out. Overall, I think our feast was largely COVID compliant, with most of the time, except the eating part, spend outside. All with our bubble family and all of us having tested negative for cCOVID-19 prior to our gathering. It was a very enjoyable afternoon/ evening.

We give thanks to all we have. A lovely comfortable home with a beautiful garden, family and friends in our lives who care for us, work, a reguar inome, plenty of food and most importantly health. We are also thankful for the things we can still look forward to.

While we feasted, many Americans go hungry, not just on this holiday, but generally. I still find it hard to understand that over 10% of the population in the richest country in the world go hungry and can only feed themselves through charity. Macy’s Thanksgiving parade is going virtual this year. All other parades have been cancelled. Holiday travel and trouble has not even started and already hospitals are overwhelmed with one American dying every 40 seconds. 

The USA reported 180k new infections in a single day, bringing the total up to 13.2 million cases, while the world reports 60.7 million infections. While this is going on the CDC is considering reducing quarantine time after a potential exposure from 14 to 10 days as 80% of infected people begin to show symptoms after ten days. This is in line with measures taken in Germany, France and other countries, who have shortened quarantine time to ten days after a potential exposure. Here is hoping that if we arrive with negative test results we can “escape” after five days. None the less, in preparation for Christmas Germany is extending measures to fight the spread. At least in France measures taken are showing effect. I am desperatly hoping the same will occure in Germany.

Even with a vaccine mask wearing and social distancing will need to continue for a while it seems. Those who receive the vaccine may not get the illness, but they can still transmit it to others. Also it will be months until the vaccine will be available to the majority of the population.