Diary of a Pandemic: from the heart of America: (Tested for COVID-19)

Wednesday April 29th, 3:10 a.m.- (MDT) Rapid City, SD

It was late this past Sunday morning ---but working late nights, I sleep in on weekends. My phone rang and I groggily picked it up because I was waiting--in fact, anxiously waiting --for my test results.

It was my Doctor, and she said something to the effect of: "I have the results from your Coronavirus test."

At this point I felt my heart sink as I knew the impact of what she was about to say-either way-"and it came back negative," she said.

I thanked her profusely for personally calling me on a Sunday! "I thought you would want to know," she said.

And a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

So, here's the deal. I wasn't worried about myself if I tested positive. I figured I'd be ok. I'm a pretty healthy guy. But after being tested on Friday, required to miss work, and quarantine until the results came back---I had time to think.

And here's what I thought about: What if?

I was exhausted and not feeling great, but that was the least of my concerns.

What if I was positive and didn't know it and passed it on to someone? What if I passed it on to a co-workers? What if I passed it on to my daughter or my granddaughter?

What if I passed it on to the wonderful older woman I recently interviewed? What if I passed it on to a drive thru worker, or a grocery store clerk or a fellow customer?

What if someone got sick, and it was my fault?

That----is what I was worried about!

We haven't had many positives on this side of the state. But we also haven't had many tests. And, lack of testing can lead to lack of accurate results. 

I notified my work about it...but because of HIPPA privacy protections they couldn't tell anyone I'd been tested and was quarantined at home waiting for results.

And I sure didn't want to tell anyone.

I was worried about whether people would shun me, be mad at me, or otherwise treat me like a leper if I would have tested positive.

Although I did tell my family in my house. They needed to know there was a chance I could have it. And that scared me.

But in the end, thank goodness. I'm one of the few folks on this side of the state that actually definitively knows: I don't have it!

I was already taking precautions, social distancing, not gathering in crowds, etc.

But what really hit home was how important it is that I follow the guidelines. It's vital that I wear a mask--not to protect me, but to protect others!

Sure, I don't have it. But I could still catch it--any of us could. So what if I take precautions and don't have it? Then I've lost nothing.

I have a choice, and my choice is to be careful, because I would hate to carry the burden of getting someone else sick, and knowing it was my fault for not doing something as simple as wearing a mask.

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(Diary day 2) Saturday April 18th, 8:30 pm- (MDT), Rapid City, SD 

It's a sunny April Saturday in the 50's. Out around town today there was quite a bit of traffic considering the size of our beautiful little city, and if you lived in a cave, never watched the news, surfed the internet, read billboards or talked to another soul: you wouldn't know there's a pandemic going on. Although, I guess you'd still figure it out because there's so many businesses locked, with notices on their doors about being closed or having changed hours due to COVID-19.

I was out today too, so I'm not judging, but I guess I thought the roads would be more quiet. Another giveaway would be that maybe 60 percent of people in stores that are open had masks on.

So my big victory today was getting hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes! I haven't seen that stuff on a store shelf for like 5 weeks. I've never heard of the brands before--and I only got lucky because I checked with a worker at Menards and she pointed me in the direction of a guy who stocking them at that very moment. He wasn't even sure what the prices would be.

The hand sanitizer bottle just says in big letters "Hand Sanitizer"....sort of like if you bought a can of vegetables and all it said was "Beans" or a beer where the label simply read "Beer"...lol. It's not like a gel, it's completely liquid but I'm guessing it's safe and effective...hmm, we'll see.

It was $7.99 for this little jug...I definitely would not have bought it if there were other options, but those options were cleared off shelves a long, long time ago (Okay maybe 5 weeks ago, or whenever the panic buying began--but it seems like a long, long time...)

The wipes are also a brand I've never seen, But again, I haven't seen wipes on a store shelf for 5-6 weeks either.

These don't say whether or not they kill germs, or if so, what percentage. They make no such claims. They're called "alcohol wipes" which I guess means they should sanitize surfaces??

So here's South Dakota's numbers for today (Saturday)....the huge majority are still on the other side of the state, the East side. Yesterday SD topped 14-hundred total cases. I checked the state Dept of Health (DOH) website today and we've now jumped again--to 1,542 positives...552 people have recovered. And Minnehaha County, home of Smithfield Foods in Sioux Falls now has a total of 1,276 according to the DOH.

The CDC site shows America with more than 35-thousand deaths...(with about 4,200 of those considered probable COVID related deaths). Wow. It's so easy to just look at those as numbers...instead of 35-thousand people...one person at a time...one Mom, Dad, Spouse, Friend, Brother, Sister, Co-worker. One person at a time...with so many more loved one's hearts broken. Each of those more than 35-thousand had dreams, memories, and a life story.

CNN is reporting that globally 158,000 people have died so far.

Pretty grim.

But here in Western South Dakota, we still have a small number, in Pennington County the SD DOH website still shows us with only 10 cases...6 of whom are listed as recovered.

One interesting thing I noticed while looking at the South Dakota DOH numbers is that most cases in SD are people aged 20 to 59. That's contrary to the age group you might expect.

The highest number of cases in SD are in the 30-39 age group (368 cases), followed in 2nd by the 40-49 age group (318 cases).

I have no facts to understand why, but since it's my diary, I'm guessing it may be because so many of the cases are from employees at the Smithfield pork processing plant, and their contacts. And it makes sense that ages 20 to 59 would be the likely age of people that are working.

On a brighter note...

People still love their Starbucks, and with lobbies closed, but drive through's open, there was an amazing lineup of cars today as I drove past...it was funny. And their hours now are way shorter, which I completely understand. But your window of opportunity for catching a coffee at Starbucks is greatly reduced. Yesterday, I was among those at a different Starbucks drive thru treating myself to a coffee. It gave me a sense of calm and normalcy. I mean, if I can still drive thru and get a brewed coffee with extra pumps of caramel...how bad can it be?

And for a couple sips, I was focused on savoring the flavor, and not on the pandemic.

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(Diary Day 1) Friday April 17th, 12:23 pm- (MDT), Rapid City, SD

We're smack dab in the heart of America...halfway between the East and West Coasts: Rapid City, SD. We've been watching as the virus has taken an unimaginable toll in bigger cities...but those are in the East and West. Still-- just a couple days ago on the Eastern side of South Dakota, a pork processing plant (Smithfield Foods) with a quickly spreading outbreak became the top hotspot for COVID-19 in the nation.

We're a few hours west of there, and our numbers here in Western SD are still very low...at least for now. It's like we're in the middle of a safe zone sandwich...horriffic scenes on both sides of America--is it moving towards us? Just checked SD Dept. of Health website...and today we crossed 14-hundred cases (1,411) in SD, after passing 13-hundred only yesterday (Thursday). But huge majority of those cases are in Minnehaha County, in Eastern SD, where the Smithfield Foods plant is in Sioux Falls. According to SD Dept. of Health's website: 1,157 out of 1,411 are in that county.

Who would have guessed South Dakota would house the top hot spot in America, at least for now, or ever? I'm guessing nobody.

Here in Western SD, in Rapid City, we're prepared, waiting. City Council approved emergency ordinance a few weeks ago...schools are closed, many businesses are closed, most churches are closed, restaurants and coffee shops are either closed, or now drive thru and delivery only, with limited hours.

Barbershops and salons are closed--have been for weeks. My big victory today, finding someone to cut my hair. As a white haired News Anchor I felt like a Q-tip--hair overgrown and fluffy--but today a haircut, now a luxury.

Is this the calm before the storm in Rapid City? 45 minutes from Mt Rushmore...or will the COVID-2019 storm--of 2020 here, largely spare us?

---------------Next entry coming soon...