Sunday, December 19, 2021

CoViD-19: San Diego Poop Is Not Looking Good | What To Do When You're Sick | Psaki Can't Call Manchin The Corrupt Dickhead He Is, But We Know She's Thinking It |

Baby Kamaria (Taken 12.19.21)

Today was kind of a psychotic animal day for our household. 

I felt like I had finally cycled back into normal sleep and was up before anyone else so I spent a few hours catching up on household nonsense like laundry and dishes, doing some writing (see after the jump) and then just generally enjoying the kittles before I finally talked to my mom. You see, while we were at the San Diego Zoo on Saturday night, she called me and told me that she had captured a (literal) bird with a broken wing. She didn't know what kind of bird, but she saw it and felt like she had to help it and watched it get exhausted crossing a busy nearby street and so with the help of a gentle nudge from a badminton racquet, she was eventually able to get it into a box. My sister delivered bird seed and she kept it in the box in the house overnight to keep it warm.

So anyway, I call her this morning and she hasn't had a chance to call or drop it off to Project Wildlife because she's busy taking care of my dad, so Nova and I were going to handle it. But then Darren got up, too, so we threw together quick brekkie sandos and it ended up being an all day adventure. 

When we first spoke on Saturday, my mom couldn't identify the bird. 
"It's big and black with a short white beak."
"Is it a pigeon or maybe a crow?" 
"I know what a PIGEON looks like, ROSEMARY! It's NOT a pigeon." 
"Is it someone's pet chicken?" 
"It could be. Or I think it could be a roadrunner the way it zoomed across the street."
"Roadrunners aren't black. Is it a duck?" 
"It could be a duck!"

When we got to the house, she had a giant box from a baby carseat (not a hoarder at all) and opened it to show us the bird and it was an American Coot! How the hell did he end up on a suburban street in Chula Vista? They're water birds known for having toes that look like leaves for when they're in wetlands and walking in mud. They're also known as "mud hens." Technically my parents live close to Otay River Valley, but the recent rains couldn't have been strong enough to saturate this long-dried area, could it? Whatever the case may be, we took it to Project Wildlife and the vet was inspecting it by the time we were on our way. Good luck, little coot. 

We decided to head to San Diego Zoo Safari Park, but I wanted to detour to Bates Nut Farm which is in the same general Valley Center area. I worked for the company for a few years in high school and college yet I'd never been to the actual full farm. We did some shopping for snacks and then had so much fun feeding the goats and sheep and llamas and pigs and ducks and even an emu. Oh, and on our way there, we saw two puppies in the roadway, so we pulled over to shoo them out of the road. They were collared, so we just tried to usher them back out of the roadway up to the scary house we presumed was theirs. 

And then of course, we closed the day at San Diego Zoo Safari Park. And of course I went straight to Kilima Point and it was empty except for the volunteer, so we chatted awhile, I patiently took photos of three older rhinos napping at golden hour, and after about 15 minutes of waiting, little baby Kamaria and mama Kianga came bounding up the hill and put on a show for us. Of course this drew a crowd so I had to back away from people, particularly the group with TWO open-mouthed coughing and cackling children. But it was fun watching Kamaria feistily engaging with the three adult rhinos before her mama pulled her away for the night. And since crowds move on and I stick around, so I always get some special little moments. It was a pretty good day. 

Stay safe out there. 

Seeing the open-mouthed coughing kids, one of which at one point, had each forefinger all the way up the corresponding nostil without the dad noticing, reminded me that people just don't know what to do anymore. We know the obvious and you either do or do not: masks, distance, ventilations, vaccines, boosters. But the guidance for everything else is pretty shoddy, so here in brief:
  1. If you are sick, STAY HOME. If your kid is sick, treat it like your whole family is sick, and STAY HOME. Isolate until you can take tests, and if positive, for 10 days 
  2. If you feel sick, or your kid feels sick - take COVID-19 tests. 
    1. If positive: stay home. See a doctor if you get an extreme fever, or your blood oxygen starts dropping below 90%. (You got your digital thermometer and oximeter in 2020, right??)     
      1. Isolate for 10 days!! I know. This super sucks, right? And isn't realistic if it is your children. But do what you can. And also, you can pass it to your pets, so if you thought you'd just lay in bed with the dog and watch TV, you're risking their health. 
      2. Continue wearing your mask, even indoors, if you must be in contact with others in your household. 
      3. Do what you can to increase ventilation. You don't want your exhalations just gathering up in the stagnant air of your home. Run fans. Open windows. Run air filters. Order up supplies for a Corsi-Rosenthal Box. You may get your parts while you're still in your 10-day isolation!
    2. If negative: you said you feel sick, so stay home until you don't. Stop dragging your kids around places while they're coughing and sneezing and wheezing, even if it isn't COVID. The flu, RSV, and all kinds of other gunk is going around. Let's stop being okay with people going out into the world while sick.  
  3. Keep home antigen tests on hand in case you feel/get sick. Remember, we're dealing with TWO variants simultaneously and their symptoms cross-over, but many people are reporting just feeling a general cold or just super sleepy with omicron, while delta people are still experiencing numerous "classic" symptoms like loss of smell or taste. The symptoms of body aches, fatigue, coughing, shortness of breath, headaches, fever, diarrhea, can be a lot of things, but also any variant of COVID. Don't dismiss them (though sometimes those hangovers can feel just about the same.)
  4. Test regularly with PCR tests at County provided sites. Use antigen tests when presenting symptoms. The way they work is different and too above my paygrade to explain (literally $0. I make $0 writing here everyday), but a rapid-test when you're asymptomatic may not give you a real picture of your status while a PCR can catch the virus a few days before any symptoms present themselves. 
  5. If you get contact traced for exposure, the advice varies, but monitor your symptoms and I would increase my testing to 2-3 PCR tests/week if you can find the time and the availability. I've only used San Diego County test sites, so I don't know how good pharmacies are with availability and appointments. 
I know I'm leaving out a ton of stuff. I also wrote this before I realized that every website has basically put together a similar guide in the past day or two. Here's CDC's page about quarantining and isolating. And we know I'm not a doctor, scientist, virologist or anything related, so do NOT take any of this as if I am. But like, if I was symptomatic and tested positive, I would likely temporarily move into the studio and make a giant fluffy pillow fort, try to see if the County is still offering monoclonal antibodies and who gets them, see if I can get a script of Fluvoxamine (if that's still a thing,) and load up on fluids, up my vitamins, do salt gargles, medicate with OTC appropriate pain-relievers, and sleep as much as possible. Mostly I just wanted to talk about it because it isn't cute when parents drag their sick kids to busy tourist locations just because Mee-maw is in town and they feel like they have to.  /rant

Posted by Rosemary Bystrak at Sunday, December 19, 2021
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