I WENT TO THE DNC & ALL I GOT WAS MY FIRST CASE OF COVID

Well, that and a historic Presidential nominee

By now, you’ve probably heard that the Democratic National Convention didn’t just spread joy everywhere.

It also was a SuperSpreader event.

DNC attendees have been sharing their positive COVID tests all over social, from big names like Dr. Mary Trump and the ironically named Fred Wellman to the content creators who were there to yours truly.

Reader, I am guilty of basic human hubris here.

I was one of those “No COVID” people after getting all of the vaccinations and boosters. I didn’t wear a mask, but I saw plenty of people wearing them, despite what you saw on TV. Disposable masks were available but not required.

The whole week I was in Chicago, I washed my hands a lot and had hand sanitizer at the ready. I used eyedrops every night after getting back from the packed (and obviously not well-ventilated enough) United Center. It’s something my Wasband, an ER physician, tipped me to. Viruses are easily transmittable through your vulnerable peepholes, so a good cleansing after being around other people is always a good idea. I do it whenever I come home from singing with my beloved Low Bar Chorale. All of the things I’ve been doing have been serving me well for four years.

Until some new strain decided to crash our joy party. Booo-urns.

I really should’ve been worried after Mike “Pillow” Lindell yelled in my face. But my focus was on protecting the kid he was yelling at before me, not myself.

I had gotten home Friday after a week of not enough sleep and more walking than I’ve done in forever. Chicago, you’re lovely and the weather was perfect, but why are your city blocks like eleven miles long?

Anyway, my flight home had been delayed and I returned to some cat mess that you don’t want to hear about because it’s gross. I got about the same amount of sleep Friday night as I’d been averaging all week because the cats woke me up early Saturday morning.

I felt fine all day, I just didn’t leave the apartment because I wanted to not be moving. I went to bed around 10:15 with the intention of going to a special Low Bar event the next afternoon.

When I woke up at 8, my eyes hurt and my head felt extra heavy when I sat up. I thought the week was just catching up to me, so I texted my friend Jennie to let her know I couldn’t make the show and went back to sleep.

Until noon.

I got up, went to the couch, and fell back to sleep for two more hours. I managed to stay awake until about 5 pm, then went to “lie down” on my bed, and woke up at 6 Monday morning.

That’s so not normal for me. After checking Twitter and seeing some positive DNCCovid posts, I ordered some COVID tests from the closest Target. I did an old-school lockdown curbside pickup and took the test the second I got home.

My instructions were all in Spanish, but I didn’t need a translator to read my test results. And I didn’t have to wait long, either, it went there immediately.

No bueno.

So far, it’s been fairly mild because of my vaccinations/boosters. My temperature hasn’t been higher than 100 degrees, and as I write this, it’s normal. But I still feel like I have a fever. My head feels heavyish and I’m sleeping a lot. Yesterday I took a 4-hour “nap” on the couch. I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up a little before 7am.

I also have some matzoh ball soup in the fridge because my son brought it to me yesterday, so I have Jewish penicillin on hand.

{EDIT: I don’t qualify for Paxlovid because thankfully I’m not high-risk}

I don’t regret going to the DNC and I feel lucky that my symptoms are mild. I’ll have to wait a while before I can get my next booster and I’ll also have to be extra careful once it clears up because I’d rather not have to have it again. I also hope everyone who is down with the DNCCovid gets over their cases fast.

So I’ll be hunkered down here for the week, trying to stay awake long enough to knock out my quota for HillReporter.com every day because I didn’t write a damn thing last week and rent is approaching. Did I mention that my hotel room in Chicago was more than my rent? And that Housekeeping never came once so they gave me a big $100 off of the total and it was still higher than my rent?

Boo, Hyatt. Also, United gave me a $50 travel voucher for being delayed 4 hours on Friday. Thanks for the generosity, giant corporations.

Sigh.

August slipped away with zero time to promote The Sound of Settling, and therefore this month’s sales are meh, even as more rave reviews keep coming in. A boost for my book from you would be delightful as we approach the one-year release date. I can still hope to hit 1000 copies sold in two weeks, because the magic of the internet and the COVID delirium.

Thank you, I love you and I’m going back to bed now.