After A Bandmate Comes Down With COVID

[Jefenator]

I had a really great gig on Friday. The band was gelling - the large but reasonably dispersed outdoor crowd was super enthusiastic. All of us had been deprived for 18 months and it felt so incredibly good to be back at it.
Then I got a text on Monday. Not good news: the drummer has a fever. We'd been brushing by each other for hours - outdoors but usually unmasked - for load-in, sound check & teardown. And of course we played two long sets, roughly 6 feet apart. Can't say we weren't in contact.
I agonized over whether to go to my day job, yesterday. The official advice I pulled up suggested it's probably OK if you're fully vaccinated and have no symptoms - but you should mask up indoors (we all have been) and get tested. My boss said to go ahead and stay home. Probably the right call, especially since the drummer's test did indeed come back positive.
Getting a test right now is tricky. All the walk-in clinics are backed up at least 4 days. Home kits are a thing, but not so easily found. A lot of work commitments were suddenly in limbo. After a day of scrambling, I was able to get a referral from my doctor to use the drive-thru test site immediately. (Actually waited till this morning since it's apparently good to do it 5 days after the incident.)
Hopefully I'll get a negative result today and be able to get back to what was left of my routine, tomorrow. (After messaging everyone else I'd been in contact with over the weekend to let them know they're probably in the clear.)
If this winds up being the worst actual encounter I have with the virus, it won't be so terrible. But it definitely was a wake-up call!
I really want to continue playing outdoor gigs to whatever extent can be safely done. (Which may not be much for a while - not while all our local hospitals are overflowing.) Going forward, there are going to have to be some serious curbs on crowd size and spacing. And I'm going to have to be more strict about how close people get to me - including bandmates!
Looking back, I am a bit ashamed of certain lapses, but also very glad about what precautions I had taken. (Those may yet have spared me from getting infected and becoming a spreader.) If there is anything I would pass on to others, it is to keep your guard up, and when you take those necessary calculated risks, be prepared to put your regular life on hold and isolate if someone you contact comes down with the bug.
Going to wait for my test result, now. Stay safe, everyone!

 

[Koshchei]

Best wishes on this - that being said, please do take whatever precautionary measures your local health authority advises to keep yourself, your loved ones, and your community safe.

 

[AboutSweetSue]

I didn’t make it a full week of being back in school without testing positive for Covid despite being fully vaccinated.

You probably made the right call. As a breakthrough case, I can say that it felt nothing more than light allergies. I think these breakthroughs happen more than people realize, it’s just that it goes unnoticed. I almost didn’t get tested myself. Glad I did.

 

[Jefenator]

3 days after the alarm, I'm back at work. Got a negative test result yesterday, as did everyone else in our band who got tested thus far. (Yay, outdoors!)
Except of course the drummer who still feels quite ill but not so bad as to have to go to the hospital. (Hope it doesn't come to that since all the hospitals around here are beyond capacity right now.)
He likely got COVID at a rehearsal with another band a couple days prior, where at least two other members wound up with it.
That could have happened to me so easily - I've had a bunch of rehearsals this summer. I will definitely be revamping my protocols for the rest of the season. And probably canceling a bunch of gigs.

 

[WillyW]

gotta watch those drummer groupies...

 

[Jefenator]

I didn’t make it a full week of being back in school without testing positive for Covid despite being fully vaccinated.

You probably made the right call. As a breakthrough case, I can say that it felt nothing more than light allergies. I think these breakthroughs happen more than people realize, it’s just that it goes unnoticed. I almost didn’t get tested myself. Glad I did.

I hate to hear that after having shown up for so many shifts with minor symptoms that I [nervously] attributed to allergies or smoke.
Fortunately, we take a lot of precautions at the day job. (Masked, distanced, outdoors half the time - I don't really have higher-risk "contact" with anyone there.)

 

[AboutSweetSue]

I hate to hear that after having shown up for so many shifts with minor symptoms that I [nervously] attributed to allergies or smoke.
Fortunately, we take a lot of precautions at the day job. (Masked, distanced, outdoors half the time - I don't really have higher-risk "contact" with anyone there.)

Yeah, it coulda been Covid. That’s just the truth of the matter. People either need to get vaccinated or take their chances. That is the way it is, that is the way it will be for awhile.

I did lose my sense of smell, but it’s recovering nicely…and quickly. So, still look for that one. I’d say it’s one of the most reliable indicators other than actually getting tested. I live in TN, and I’m a teacher in the public schools and so am around Covid on a daily basis. 100% of my grade’s faculty has gotten it, lol (I was the last to get sick). Sigh, it sucks. Anyway, every one of them lost their sense of smell at the onset.

 

[hrodbert696]

I didn’t make it a full week of being back in school without testing positive for Covid despite being fully vaccinated.

You probably made the right call. As a breakthrough case, I can say that it felt nothing more than light allergies. I think these breakthroughs happen more than people realize, it’s just that it goes unnoticed. I almost didn’t get tested myself. Glad I did.

That's what's driving me nuts now - also fully vaccinated, but every time I get a sniffle I'm wondering if I should get tested.

 

[DirtDog]

3 days after the alarm, I'm back at work. Got a negative test result yesterday, as did everyone else in our band who got tested thus far. (Yay, outdoors!)
Except of course the drummer who still feels quite ill but not so bad as to have to go to the hospital. (Hope it doesn't come to that since all the hospitals around here are beyond capacity right now.)
He likely got COVID at a rehearsal with another band a couple days prior, where at least two other members wound up with it.
That could have happened to me so easily - I've had a bunch of rehearsals this summer. I will definitely be revamping my protocols for the rest of the season. And probably canceling a bunch of gigs.

Is the drummer vaccinated?

 

[Jefenator]

Is the drummer vaccinated?

He is.

 

[AboutSweetSue]

That's what's driving me nuts now - also fully vaccinated, but every time I get a sniffle I'm wondering if I should get tested.

No, I just don’t think that is a realistic plan, to get tested every time you feel A symptom. I don’t know if it’s my environment or what, but I’ve developed a very fatalistic/pessimistic view of how this is going to go down. This view largely developed from witnessing a pattern of behavior within my fellow humans…they just will not, collectively, do the right thing to mitigate the spread and stamp out the virus.

I don’t know that we can keep altering our lives to protect those that refuse to help themselves. The collective whole that refuses to vaccinate will keep this virus fed for awhile. I do believe that we will eventually reach herd immunity, we’ve just decided to do it the hard way.

 

[Jefenator]

I take my temperature a lot more now. (Like the actual COVID tests: not foolproof - negative not a 100% guarantee. But a positive result would merit some action.)
Since last spring I've been striving to interact with people as though I might be contagious, symptoms or no. (Following that contact with a known case, it's up to the next level where I really might be contagious...)