Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Texas numbers continue to surge.  They added over 8000 cases last week.

They will likely pass PA in number of active cases in the next 2 to 3 days.

Very concerning.

For anyone who thought that the warm weather would cause this to diminish, you can just look at California, Texas, and Florida for evidence the opposite direction. 

So we had a couple of errands to run yesterday, and I'd just gotten an email that one of our local breweries had reopened for seated dining. 

It's now reservation-only, so we made a reservation and figured we'd give it a shot. 

When we hit our wine bar on Friday, there was a small undercurrent of "this isn't normal" there, but once we got on the patio with a bottle of wine, overlooking the lake, that went away quickly. It was a really good experience, with the feeling like maybe we're gonna be ok.

The brewery was not quite so good. Something about the whole thing just seemed awkward, and the feeling never really went away. All the rules and restrictions made it seemed like we were trying to force a sense of normalcy, and you can't force it. My wife and I both walked away from it thinking "if this is what it's going to be like under COVID-19, we're just not going to do it."

It was disappointing. I want to support these businesses, and their workers, but at the same time I don't know if the "new normal" is worth going out at all.

Really interesting article about the potential mechanisms by which COVID-19 works, which might explain some of the weirdness of this disease:

https://elemental.medium.com/coronavirus-may-be-a-blood-vessel-disease-which-explains-everything-2c4032481ab2

That said-- I was tested for COVID19 today, and also tested for the antibodies.

I received a call from the Austin/Travis County department of public health on Saturday, alerting me that I came in direct contact with a person with a confirmed case of COVID19 on May 20th.  That's the day I got my hair cut, and my hair cutter tested positive a few days later.  She contacted me the same day as the public health department to let me know, and we talked.  She has been completely asymptomatic, but has obviously closed down her business once again until she is in the clear.'

I too have had no symptoms, nothing at all to make me think I've been infected, but I suppose you never know and better safe than sorry.

A few thoughts

1) They're definitely contact tracing, at least here in Austin/Texas.  This was a pretty easy trace, though, as she saw only a limited number of clients before she found out.  I can't imagine how they can contact trace contact/exposure at bars/restaurants.  Or, protests.  Or, riots with looting.

2) The swab test is really, REALLY unpleasant.  Imagine a foot-long q-tip jabbed through your nose and into your brain, and then swished around for a full ten seconds.  My eyes watered and the nurse apologized for making me cry.  I said, "I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying."  She laughed.  But yeah, that really sucked.

3) My doc also advised the antibody test, that was easy, just a standard  blood draw.

4) They said I'll know the results of the swab test in 5 days.  Critical medical providers supposedly hear back in 3 days.  That's not nearly fast enough.  But I don't know if a "rapid test" would yield even less reliable results?

5) I should know the results of the antibody test in 3 days.  I guess that seems normal.

6) It was quite easy for me to get tested.  Here in large cities, in my part of the country, I think it' fair to say testing is widespread and anyone who really wants to get one, can get it same-day.  They're not going to test you just for the fun of it, you'd need to show symptoms or contact with a positive, but to me that's an appropriate level of testing for the general public.

So there you have it, I'll let you all know in the next 3-5 days whether or not I've been infected with The Coronas.

Thanks Fearless.  I don't imagine I'll test positive, but I'm glad to have taken the tests and hopefully they can tell me something.  I'm certainly not feeling any symptoms, which now that we're at Day 13 past exposure, the doc told me I should be, if I were going to have any.

Thanks Fearless.  I don't imagine I'll test positive, but I'm glad to have taken the tests and hopefully they can tell me something.  I'm certainly not feeling any symptoms, which now that we're at Day 13 past exposure, the doc told me I should be, if I were going to have any.

How did they know how to contact you

Contact tracing.