infection control?
24 December 2020 07:23![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_d_hSo far I haven't caught whatever T has. It seems yesterday was his worst day and he's starting to rebound this morning. Still only the two symptoms -- fatigue and nasal congestion -- which doesn't fit the standard profile of COVID-19, so I'm continuing to accept the most likely (90%) diagnosis as the common cold.
With many viruses, including both the common cold and COVID-19, you're most infectious to other people before you start having symptoms. This is why you can hang out with a group of healthy-feeling people doing yoga and then feel sick a couple days later, as happened with T. This is why holiday gatherings are so dangerous for spreading COVID-19 right now.
Now that T has been feeling common cold symptoms for more than three days, he's probably becoming less infectious. Maybe tomorrow morning it will be OK for us to sit across from each other in the living room and open presents with a bottle of champagne. We'll see how he's feeling tomorrow.
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I'm still in bed while T eats his breakfast in the kitchen, but so far it feels like my back is doing better than it was yesterday morning. I will probably continue to avoid vigorous exercise until next week. I'll stick with stretching, walking Dax, and household chores, and then I'll be careful in ramping up my various exercises again -- lifting at half weights, running only 3 miles, etc. I've been through this cycle so many times! of cutting back and ramping up and then enjoying my exercise routines until the next injury strikes (shoulder, foot, back). I try to get smarter about exercising and stretching and correct equipment, but I'm also getting older, so avoiding injuries keeps getting trickier. But the alternative would be to lose muscle and bone mass more quickly, and then become even more fragile, which would lead to chronic problems like arthritis, osteoporosis, and heart disease, and set me up for disastrous falls.
I'm probably never running a marathon again, but I can continue exercising as I get older, I must remain resilient. But I can also learn a lesson from what Sir Ben said -- taking a break from everything can be delightful. A break from work and exercise, just binging TV and playing video games. Sometimes you have to give up your illusion of control.
With many viruses, including both the common cold and COVID-19, you're most infectious to other people before you start having symptoms. This is why you can hang out with a group of healthy-feeling people doing yoga and then feel sick a couple days later, as happened with T. This is why holiday gatherings are so dangerous for spreading COVID-19 right now.
Now that T has been feeling common cold symptoms for more than three days, he's probably becoming less infectious. Maybe tomorrow morning it will be OK for us to sit across from each other in the living room and open presents with a bottle of champagne. We'll see how he's feeling tomorrow.
-----
I'm still in bed while T eats his breakfast in the kitchen, but so far it feels like my back is doing better than it was yesterday morning. I will probably continue to avoid vigorous exercise until next week. I'll stick with stretching, walking Dax, and household chores, and then I'll be careful in ramping up my various exercises again -- lifting at half weights, running only 3 miles, etc. I've been through this cycle so many times! of cutting back and ramping up and then enjoying my exercise routines until the next injury strikes (shoulder, foot, back). I try to get smarter about exercising and stretching and correct equipment, but I'm also getting older, so avoiding injuries keeps getting trickier. But the alternative would be to lose muscle and bone mass more quickly, and then become even more fragile, which would lead to chronic problems like arthritis, osteoporosis, and heart disease, and set me up for disastrous falls.
I'm probably never running a marathon again, but I can continue exercising as I get older, I must remain resilient. But I can also learn a lesson from what Sir Ben said -- taking a break from everything can be delightful. A break from work and exercise, just binging TV and playing video games. Sometimes you have to give up your illusion of control.