Aaron, ending poorly, some better

One of the reasons I am avoiding travel out of the country this year is the because of the fluke of testing for COVID. There have been so many multiples of stories of testing disparities that I am very hesitant to trust the arbitrary outcomes of testing to determine my status for travel. Not that it would be a hardship to be stuck in Honduras for an additional two weeks should that happen, but it would be extremely inconvenient. One story of testing disparity I know personally is of a gentleman in our church, who recently lost his wife to COVID. When I asked him at the funeral if he had been able to say goodbye to his wife he answered me through teary eyes. He told me that he had avoided contact with her prior to her death because he had tested positive for the virus while she had tested negative. (Thought she was clearly sick with something.) That seemed a proper decision, however, the very next day after his self-imposed isolation, his wife was taken to the hospital where she died alone. Because a more specific test for the virus had come back positive, he was not allowed to be with her as she quickly faded and died. That false negative kept him from getting to say goodbye to his wife of over sixty years. A regret he still aches from.

Just so is the case the with Aaron. Because the test he took for COVID prior to traveling to a class he had been assigned – a class that required his reporting to a site away from home – he made the trip to the testing location. He had received a negative result for that test. Once onsite, he was tested again, and the test came back positive for the virus. Because of that test he is now quarantined in a hotel room, under orders not to leave the room for any reason. It makes me very curious to test a hypothesis. If he were tested again, today, what is the chance the test would come back negative. After all, a negative test can be repeated because we are not sure of the truth of the results, but a positive test is treated as unquestionable. The isolation is imposed without recourse.

What would happen, I wonder, if he were allowed to repeat the test? Would a negative result release him from isolation? I think not. One positive test is enough to sentence a person to a set of penalties whether it can be trusted or not.  In Aaron’s case, he does have some of the symptoms of a viral infection, so it is a moot point. But it shows just how untrustworthy a negative test really is since Aaron could have been negative at the moment of the test and been exposed to the virus while he was being tested. Assuming the negative results was indeed accurate. Talk about magnifying insecurity. This whole COVID mentality is really messed up.

On the bright side, some elected officials are starting to smell a rat. Great Britain has ended all COVID restrictions. No isolation. No required vaccine updates. No vaccine passport required. A full stop. Everyone must go back to work like before the pandemonium. Just like that the “pandemic” is over. France and Ireland will follow suit with other European countries training along. Meanwhile, here in the United Stated, the definition of “fully vaccinated” has been changed to “up to date” to allow for the imposition of mandates for booster shots. There is speculation of a fourth shot in the works and serious talk of a yearly shot – just like so many do for the flu. Imagine that. Treating COVID like the flu. Who could have seen that coming?

The fear mongering and panic will continue for a time. How could it not? We have been told that humanity was on the verge of extinction and now the talking heads are saying, “Never mind. Our bad.” Those who are genuinely afraid are going to be very hesitant to surrender to the new narrative. Those who have profited from the panic will be reluctant to move along as they lose the power to control the masses through the fear they manufactured. Teachers unions will be the last holdouts. They have exposed themselves to the world and their loathing for our children has been laid bare. The outcomes from that attitude will be horrific and long-lasting. I pity those in the teaching profession who genuinely love their job as the backlash against the establishment who claims to “represent” them evidences itself in the sphere of public education.

So much for depressing thoughts. Here at the farm, Mama is feeling significantly better, and I am pretty much recovered. I do not know if I would have had the voice to teach classes tomorrow and Thursday, but I am being backfilled for those classes because of my quarantine period which extends through this week. Victoria is still a bit more symptomatic than either Mama or me. Why she is slower to recover is a question I cannot find an answer for, but she will soon be better as well. Mama and I are not sure if we will be back at church Wednesday night or if we will wait until Sunday just to be sure, but I am leaning to attending the service Wednesday evening.

I have missed enough church these past two weeks.