Virus Blog

7/27/20

Testing. Kevin has been in Lake Tahoe for the past two weeks. Driving up he saw signs that said "get tested" and since he was staying with new people, they decided to all get tested. It turned out to be a little harder than it looked. They had to make two subsequent trips to get tested, but he got it done and he and his friends were all negative. That was 7 days ago. Testing is a snapshot in time and doesn't show you what happened before and, of course, ages very quickly. Getting a test in San Mateo County is a little harder and it's clear you are not supposed to get tested unless you have a reason to get tested. Visiting my mom or working in a grocery store seem like a good reason, but I'm hard pressed to come up with a reason for me. Nevertheless the mantra is: "symptoms or insurance." You apparently need one of the two to get tested today. Kevin is now in his apartment and at least from his parents' perspective: contaminated.

7/28/20

Baseball. The delayed season was only a few days old when it emerged that a couple people on one team tested positive. They immediately quarantined, but the players got together and discussed what to do. Apparently they get to play a roll in the decision. Apparently there was no policy about whether the game should go on when just a one or two players tested positive. They voted to play. They did. The next day there were 14 positive tests. They cancelled their game. The team they played also cancelled their game presumably to test to see if one team infected the other team. The new team coming in wanted no part of that contaminated locker room and MLB finds itself in a bit of a pickle. This sport decided against the "bubble" that soccer and the NBA opted for. By contrast the NBA has had zero positive tests although one player went to a funeral and stopped at a strip club before returning to the team so he's on ice for a few weeks before he can play. But here's the point. With all its testing and money how can schools hope to do any better you would expect MLB to work and if they ca'nt make it work, how can schools make it work?

The Bet. Kevin and I have had a bet for months where I say three will be no college football this year. He says there will be at least one game. We have revisited this bet weekly and both sides are confident they will win. I'm more confident today.

Quick Takes

MLB Backwards. Stands for BLM (Black Lives Matter). Seems like that means something.
Napkin Snob. It turns out that I'm a napkin snob. Eve has been buying expensive napkins. She told me they came from her mother's house. She has been dead a while so she must have had a large supply. In the pandemic when paper goods fell in short supply we bought what we could. We have a lot of cheap napkins. I think I've achieved a certain status in life that should not require me to use cheap napkins. Eve thinks otherwise.

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