December, masks, test kits

A few days ago my house was mask free. I have to wear a mask at work (at least 7 hours), I also wear a mask in all public places (shops, pharmacies, buses, post office). But the house and car were my mask free zones.

Everything changed in one day.

December 21. In the morning Dan had a meeting at work. Several mechanics were sitting indoors, at a distance from each other, but for 30 minutes.

2-3 hours after that, one of the mechanics (let’s call him # 1) found out that he has covid. Upon learning about this, the administration sent two unvaccinated mechanics home to quarantine (without pay).

According to the new CDC protocol, vaccinated people do not need to be isolated, but they must be tested within five to seven days after contact with an infected person, regardless of having or not having the symptoms.

In the evening of the same day, one of the two mechanics (let’s call him # 2), who was sent home, tested positive for covid.

This means that at least two people from the maintenance department are asymptomatic with covid.

Who knows how long there will be only two of them… and what should we do if Daniel worked together with Mechanic # 2?

So I had to wear a mask in the house. We slept in separate bedrooms and tried to stay as far from each other as possible in a small house. It may seem funny to someone, but I’m not worried about myself, but about my colleagues. They have children at home, families, and preparations for the holiday. Nobody wants to get sick.

On December 22, after work, Dan took a covid  test at home, the test was negative.

I took off the mask, and we both almost calmed down. He will repeat the test on Saturday before the neighbor comes to celebrate Christmas with us.

The next news is that our library branch (as well as the Main and the HGRN) has become a place for distributing free covid tests for two days. During these two days, we gave away 28 boxes of 90 pieces each, in addition, we handed pamphlets and instructions (in Spanish), and people could take home free masks if they wanted.

We were so busy that there was no time to eat properly. 2-3 people were taking addresses and giving test kits away. One person was  bringing full boxes and taking away empty ones, immediately copying and folding these brochures. But we also had to do a librarian job checking books in and out, and answering telephone calls.  

• 

• 

Some people were upset that we were giving test kits only to New Bedford residents. But what could we do? We just work in the library and do what we are told. 

We gave away the last test kit 20 minutes before the library closed.

Thursday is a short pre-holiday day in the library. But Daniel will be working as usual on Thursday and Friday…don’t you think that working on Christmas Eve is some kind of outrage? This is a clear example of the American dream that foreigners don’t know about. 

I wish a healthy holiday weekend to everyone!