What day is it? When did this begin, when will it end? It’s Tuesday, February 1, five days since the onset of C-19 symptoms (cough, fever), three days since the positive test result. Oxygen level is good at 95, temperature at 97.8, got a stiff neck but otherwise normal flexibility. Cough is intermittent, while the nose is still running as constantly as a three-year old’s mouth does in a zoo. My voice sounds like a rasp pulled across dry rattan, but my throat isn’t sore—I might have to pick up the guitar and sing tonight. Periodic waves of goosebumps, the herald of chills and their sweaty opposite, have ceased.
I have ingested massive quantities of Vitamins C, D3, and B12, also zinc, plus cough drops and throat lozenges, all recommended by the few organic friends I have, on Facebook and in real life. Do I feel almost normal? Only if “normal” can be herbally induced.
Not to worry, Big Science waits in the wings. I wrangled a video appointment with my GP yesterday, having called NYC’s C-19 Hotline (212-COVID19, 212-268-4319) to find the names of the anti-viral pills you can get without cost and delivered free (!): Paxlovid and Molnupiravir. The good doctor called the script into the only pharmacy in the city which carries the drugs, Alto on Park Ave near Grand Central, and the pharmacy quickly arranged by text to deliver a dose of Paxlovid today, to my door. Again, for free.
This Pfizer drug, which is being distributed with emergency approval from the FDA, doesn’t “cure” C-19, it supposedly prevents a mild-to-moderate case from becoming a full-blown infection that requires hospitalization. Like a flu shot.
You’d think us Americanskis could figure out how to do this on a wider scale, leaving aside Texas and Florida, of course, where people seem to think that liberty demands daily death-defying stunts. But anti-vaxxers in other parts of the US probably wouldn’t take a pill, either. Me, I’m eager to measure the results.