Pandemic, Week 77 (The Agony and the Ectasy)

This week, the Texas law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy (including in cases of rape and incest) went into effect after the Supreme Court refused to block the law due to procedural concerns. The law is not enforced by government officials, but rather deputizes citizens to sue for $10,000 plus legal fees anyone they believe is engaging in or abetting an abortion. The decision effectively overturns Roe vs Wade and ends women's reproductive and privacy rights. Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi with 150 mph winds resulting in one million people without power. The storm caused record flooding in the northeast as well,  killing dozens. The US officially ended the war in Afghanistan, pulling all troops after 20 years of occupation, while instituting drone strikes on the Islamic State, which killed 10 civilians – including children – in Kabul. The Chinese government has limited children's ability to play video games to one hour per day on Fridays, weekends and public holidays. California is closing all national forests for two weeks due to wildfires. Actor Ed Asner (of Mary Tyler Moore Show fame) and weatherman (and centennial enthusiast) Willard Scott, have died.

The world reached 221.1 million COVID cases and 4.6 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 40.8 million cases and 666,000 deaths. 207 million (62 percent) of Americans – including Nora! – have received at least one vaccine dose and 176 million (53 percent) are fully vaccinated. The FDA continues to warn against taking ivermectin, a drug used for deworming livestock, to combat COVID. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Texas all have less than 10 percent of their ICU bed capacity left. The Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation against five states that have banned masked mandates, while Florida withheld funds from two counties that refused to adhere to Florida's mandate ban.

It was a weird week for us. On Monday, we dutifully sent both kids off for their first real day of in-person education in 77 weeks. Nora came home ecstatic; Owen came home looking rough and crashed right after dinner (which he barely ate). When we checked on him later that night, he had a temperature of 102 degrees. Allen quickly went on a pharmacy run to try and get a rapid at-home COVID test, but had no luck. Fortunately, we had a friend with a stockpile who delivered four tests to us that night while I furiously tried to figure out whom to contact at Duke to let them know we had a potential exposure and Owen slept.

The next morning, Nora bounded down the stairs ready to start their second day of school when we broke the news that Owen had a positive rapid test that morning and so Nora couldn't go to school. We then had to contact Stuart-Hobson as well as all of the kids' friends they'd come into contact with the past few days (which Owen having just had a birthday party, was more than you'd think). Allen and Nora both took rapid tests and both got negative results (I was hoarding our last test in case we needed it). Allen took both kids for PCR tests and then returned home so that Owen could crash again (though now his fever was down to a less concerning 100 degrees) while Nora broke out the sewing machine and started crafting. In the meantime, I had a back-and-forth with the kids pediatrician to figure out if Nora could still get their COVID shot the following day for their birthday (the answer was no).

So we were a little bummed the morning of Nora's birthday. Owen, who we could only interact with while masked, asked if we could Facetime him while Nora opened their presents; Nora just slept in. But early that morning, I got an email from our health provider with the kids' PCR results – they were both negative.  Nora woke up pretty quickly when they heard that.

This revelation resulted in a number of calls to the kids' schools, DCPS, and our pediatrician (after we opened presents). It's a little hard to unring the COVID bell though, and since Owen had both symptoms and a positive rapid test, the default was to have Owen quarantine for 10 days and Nora for 14. That didn't go over well, so we talked some more to DCPS who contacted DC Health who eventually conceded that if we could get a doctor to confirm that Owen never had COVID, both kids could return to school.

So then we reached out to our pediatrician who agreed that given the negative PCR tests she could see Nora for their annual physical and get Nora their first COVID shot. In addition, she would evaluate Owen to see if he could return to school. After examining Owen and weighing the fact that he was now fever free, was fully vaccinated, had been masking in public, hadn't been exposed to anyone with COVID but had interacted with a friend who'd tested negative but had a bad cold, and had a negative PCR tests, she determined that Owen never had COVID and that both kids were cleared to return to school (and gave them both flu shots). We returned home, emailed all the documentation to the appropriate parties, sang happy birthday to Nora, ate banana ice cream cake, and watched Marvel's What If while chatting with Grandma & Grandpa Z and Dave & Kara over the phone.

We thought the earliest we could get the kids back in school was Friday, but after a call with our DCPS contact tracer on Thursday morning, we discovered the kids had been cleared by DC Health and the schools had been notified. Owen was fever free but still had a cough so we decided to keep him home one more day, but we woke Nora up, quickly packed a lunch and escorted them to Stuart so they could formally start their second day of seventh grade (only 20 minutes late for class). They had an amazing day and were relieved to be back.

On Friday, we dropped Owen off again. School got out a little early due to the holiday, so instead of waiting for us to pick him up, Owen actually took the bus home with friends and arrived excited about his day. A little later, Mom Mom arrived for a planned night at the Nationals which we decided we could go ahead with since the COVID scare was all a bad dream. It was a beautiful night and even though we left before the Nats tied it up (but also before they lost in extra innings), it was a lovely bending to a crazy first week of school.

By Saturday everything was back to normal. Nora got to attend their friend Anais's 12th birthday swim party (with Nora getting their own cake); Owen got to go to climbing. And after a lovely dinner outside, we call gathered round for a fire and some popcorn via one of Owen's birthday presents (thanks Aunt Katherine).

Just a note, while I was initially frustrated about figuring out who to contact at the schools and how the process of a potential exposure worked, everyone I spoke to at the kids schools and DCPS were incredibly helpful and understanding. Everyone is really trying their best to protect people's health while ensuring kids can safely go to school. And while it was a lot of additional stress and bureaucratic hoops, in the end the kids only missed two and three days respectively, and both got a clean bill of health. Which is probably the best we could have hoped for in 2021.

(To see all of this week's photos, click here.)