Because of an old driver for the modem for our single-side-band radio, I just had a throat and nasal swab test for Covid-19 and must stay isolated for 48 to 72 hours until we get the results back.

What, you may well ask, is the link here?

Of course, it is a bit of a convoluted story...

As concluded in the last blog-post, Randall has recently bought a new hp laptop and while he had to transfer data and programs to it from his old laptop, and to download some updated programs, we decided to treat ourselves to a week in the marina at Lemon Tree Passage starting on Saturday (20th June). Although it was good to have a reliable supply of electricity, the internet connection via our cellphone was not very fast so some of the downloading took all night to be completed which was a bit frustrating. But nothing like as maddening as the Windows blue-screen-of-death that greeted Randall on Wednesday morning.

The last thing that Randall had loaded on the laptop before turning it off the previous night had been the driver for an old modem that we use with our SSB radio to get emails and weather forecasts when we are at sea. He suspects that somehow that driver had corrupted something rather basic in the Windows operating system because none of the resets or self-help options could even be started, much less work.

It took an hour on the phone to the hp Helpline to conclude that something had seriously gone wrong with the operating system and the laptop would have to be wiped-clean and Windows 10 would have to be reloaded. Since that operating system had been already loaded on new the laptop, which could no longer recognize our external disc drive, and the internet connection was too slow to download such a massive program, Randall had to return the laptop to the Harvey Norman store where we had bought it. Computer sale associate, Steve, had kindly agreed on the phone to reload Windows 10 for us, if that was necessary.

A trip to the store was no longer a quick row ashore and walk up the road from the Salamander Bay anchorage. Taking Tregoning back there from Lemon Tree Passage Marina would have probably been quicker than the trip by bus except that we would have had to wait for the appropriate high tides. So, feeling emboldened by the low number of Coivid-19 cases in NSW, we took one bus from Lemon Tree Passage to Salt Ash and another from there to the Salamander Bay Shopping Center, a 37-km (23-mile) trip that, with detours and wait between buses, took about two hours. We were very relieved that the buses were not busy and we were able to keep well-separated from the driver and other passengers. The buses had signs showing passenger limits far below their normal capacity, and green stickers showed which seats should be used, so that passengers were socially distanced. Like most people, we did not wear masks (not required) but we did use plenty of hand-sanitizer after we touched anything.

We dropped off the laptop and had a nice Thai lunch before shopping for some groceries and a few other things. Fortunately, Steve had been able to reload the Windows OS so Randall could reclaim the same laptop. If it had been a hardware fault, we would have either have to wait for weeks for the new order of that model to arrive, or to settle for another model...probably at unnecessarily greater cost. We were also thankful that Steve complete the task before the last buses left for Lemon Tree Passage because the idea of making the slow bus trip on two consecutive days was not appealing.

The downside to this rescue of the laptop was that Randall now had to reload all of his data and programs, excluding the dodgy SSB-modem driver. After each major addition, he would take extra precautions to update the "system restore points" and would record the time and order of loading so that if something else was the problem, he could restore the operating system to before the corrupted material had been loaded, without losing everything loaded before that time. Of course, this was going to involve plenty of downloads from the internet again and Randall could not bear the idea of having to struggle with the slow progress of this using our phone data.

So, encouraged by our relatively stress-free experience on public transportation, Randall proposed that we make a trip to see Hillary in Forestville, northern Sydney. When we had briefly seen Hillary and Glen at the beginning of the month, Hillary had suggested that we come to visit because Glen was leaving for six weeks to go to Perisher in the Snowy Mountains (southeast NSW) to work at the fire station, and snow-board on his time off, and she would enjoy some company at the house. Now her offer seemed particularly enticing because not only could we enjoy time with Hillary but Randall could use the fast WiFi at her house. It would also be a familiar but lovely change of scene after three months in Port Stephens.

Randall had an appointment with the dermatologist in Lemon Tree Passage on Friday to have a biopsy from a mole on his chest, so we postponed our trip to Forestville to Saturday, after requesting to leave Tregoning at the Marina for another week. Taking advantage of the trip, we also made appointments for cleaning and check-ups with Hillary's dentist in Forestville, who we had visited before. Both feeling healthy, we were very excited by the adventure of a trip after three months with little travel and still no sign of the Queensland border being opened. We had hoped that the interstate travel restrictions would be lifted in early July, but with a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in Melbourne (e.g., 75 new cases today versus 7 in NSW: https://www.covid19data.com.au/ and 598 active cases in Australia as a whole), our optimism about this was slipping away.

News of an infected pupil in southwestern Sydney, who had many contacts in their school, made me a little more nervous about going towards the big city. Making our trip on a Saturday rather than a school day, however, now looked sensible. Also, a look at the map of cases by health district: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/ng-interactive/2020/jun/26/australia-coronavirus-stats-cases-covid-19-active-state-live-data-update-how-many-new-numbers-today-map-statistics-r-number-hotspots-postcode-corona-deaths-death-toll showed no cases in the last 30 days in areas adjacent to Forestville. Although very few people routinely wear masks on the street in Australia, we did buy a few N95 masks in the local pharmacy (where they assured us that they had plenty for sale) so that if we found ourselves in a crowded vehicle or station we could put them on.

The whole 4-hour 50-minute journey by bus, bus, train, train, and bus went very smoothly with us making all of our connections on time and arriving to greet Hillary (with elbow bumps, no hugs) mid-afternoon. On the first bus and both trains, the passengers had been reasonably well-spaced and we had felt pretty comfortable, again using copious hand-sanitizer. The last bus had more passengers than the supposed limit but, it was easy to see how the drivers could keep letting people on as long as there were plenty of empty seats still visible.

The worst, however, was the bus from Salt Ash to Newcastle where we were not too crowded but we had to sit near the back and in the last rows were four teenage girls. They were talking loudly and were clearly excited about a trip to the shopping mall which would have all been fine, but we could soon hear that one of them had a streaming cold. They were even talking about Covid-19 symptoms of which this girl undoubtedly had some but her sniffles and sneezing did sound exactly like a common cold. We did not see whether she was covering her mouth when she sneezed but it did not sound particularly stifled. After so much isolation, this was the first obvious person with a cold we had seen in months and it occurred to us that schools were the most likely place where they would spread after the lockdown.

In retrospect we should have moved further forward in the bus or put on our masks as soon as we heard the sneezes but it seemed as though we were far enough away from her...if she was covering her mouth. Maybe she was the source, or maybe it was somewhere else but despite all the hand-sanitizing, I woke up on Sunday morning with a slightly scratchy throat and sniffles. I felt pretty good, however, and while Randall merrily loaded-up his laptop, I went for a 9-km run in the morning and joined Hillary for a walk to The Cascades in Garigal National Park with much bird-watching and plant identification (Hillary is a very skilled botanist) in the afternoon. Stephanie had come over for dinner on Saturday evening (again only elbow bumps and no hugs) and joined us again on Sunday evening at a favorite local Thai restaurant where, luckily I did not sit near anyone other than Randall and Hillary. By that time, I had convinced myself that I was as likely to be suffering from hay-fever (Hillary had pointed-out a huge number of flowering species even though it was mid-winter) or a sudden-onset of a cold.



A Banksia flower seen on my walk with Hillary

Waking in the middle of the night and lying there with a sore-throat and headache, I was convinced that I had caught a cold (I have always been particularly susceptible to them) but all I could think about was the responsibility of ensuring that it was not Covid-19. With no fever, no cough, no breathing difficulties, no body-aches or lethargy, and with my appetite and senses of smell and taste in fine order (despite the nasal congestion), I was not worried that I was sick with the coronavirus. However, I realized that it was a heavy burden to have a few of the potential symptoms and to try to ignore this fact. With his history of heart surgery, I am absolutely terrified of Randall becoming infected with Covid-19 and especially of me being the carrier that gives it to him. I would also be mortified if I had brought it to such dear friends Hillary and Stephanie.

During the night, it is easy to feel overly sensational about things and I pondered whether the headache was induced by tension. Was I simply imagining that minor hay-fever or common cold sniffles might be something more melodramatic? Earlier in the day, I had discussed with Sarah in Victoria and Sue in Florida the fact that none of us knew anyone who had actually had a Covid-19 test (although Sue now knows of positive cases in her neighborhood). Was I being a drama-queen in thinking that I should get tested when it was highly unlikely that I had been exposed to the coronavirus? On the other hand, and adding to my tension, surely if there was ever a time to be cautious, wasn't this it? What mayhem could I spread if I went to the dentist and took public transportation back to Port Stephens while unknowingly carrying a potentially deadly disease...never mind, leaving Randall, Hillary, and Stephanie unwarned?

Caution won the night.

Regretting that I had not isolated myself immediately on Sunday morning, I finally fell asleep again but resolved that I should go and get a Covid-19 test as soon as possible. Hillary gave us helpful advice about where to go and loaned us her car. So once the school-rush was over on Monday morning, Randall drove me to the shiny (relatively) new Northern Beaches Hospital, a place that I had passed during my run the previous morning. As we drove there, it did not escape me that there was a certain irony that I, who had been so happy to be spending the pandemic in Australia and had bragged about the ease of self-isolation on a boat, might be one of the first of our friends and relations to be tested for Covid-19.

Directed by signs and masked security personnel to a car-park at the back of the hospital, we were checked-in by a masked person who took my name and phone number. He also handed out masks to people who did not arrive with one (as we did) and a page of information. We were then sent back to sit in our car until they called us, which they did about 30 minutes later. I then checked-in with a gowned, gloved, and masked nurse who took my name, date of birth, and symptoms. Randall was advised that they were not testing people who were not showing any symptoms and so went back to the car. I waited in a socially distanced line for a couple more minutes then was called in by another nurse in gown, gloves, mask, and face-shield. After checking my name and DOB on the sample tube, she swabbed each side of the back of my tongue for 4 seconds (I almost gagged on the second one) and then poked the same long swab deep into each nostril and rotated it there for 7 seconds. That was that and I was sent away, with the expectation of a text message with the results within 48 to 72 hours and a phone call if the result is positive.

There is no denying that the nasal swab was uncomfortable and I was quite surprised that it did not make my nose bleed. But it was done professionally and was over quickly so I would not hesitate to have it done again if needed. There were news reports of people in parts of Australia undergoing 14 days of quarantine who were refusing to have the test at the end of that period. If they refused the test, they were being held in mandatory quarantine for a further 10 days...it seems as though you would have to really be test-adverse to take that consequence.

This is only a test for active cases in which the virus is present and is not an antibody test that would be needed to see if a person had been exposed to the virus in the past (to understand the differences see: https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/is-covid-19-coronavirus-testing-accurate-and-9-more-things-to-know-about-covid-19-nasal-swab-testing.h00-159381945.html). Rather than being terrified that I was potentially exposing myself to other people who might have positive test results, I was strangely reassured that most of the people that I saw being tested looked fairly healthy or had the same sort of sniffles that I had. In many countries (such as the US), a doctor's prescription is needed for testing but at this time in Australia, that was not the case and at least one, self-reported symptom was the only requirement.

Under normal circumstances I would be concerned that I was being unnecessarily precautionary and was wasting a test-kit and the time of the administering personnel. In the case of this pandemic, however, not only is caution vital but negative results are very useful in tracking the true incidence of a disease that may be unreported in asymptomatic carriers or can be confused for other illnesses when the symptoms do not rise to the level of needing medical care.

After the test I had to phone the hospital's reception desk to register details such as my address (after explaining about living on a boat, I gave Hillary's) and national health coverage (or insurance in my case). As I understand it, there is no charge for test but presumably this is in case of a positive result and subsequent treatment. The sheet of paper then instructed me to go home and self-isolate until a negative result is received. Obviously, in the event of a positive result, quarantine is extended beyond the resolution of a symptoms and I would be panicking about Randall, Hillary, and Stephanie.

So here I am, in Hillary's back bedroom, nursing my cold and being nursed by Randall who is marvelously attentive. We will have to postpone or cancel our dental appointments and I called Stephanie to explain what had happened and to let her know that we would be in touch as soon as the result came. We will certainly be wearing our masks and being even more paranoid about hand-cleaning when we eventually return to Port Stephens, assuming that the results come back negative. In the unlikely event that the result is positive, then a whole new stream of anxiety and remorse will ensue but there is no point in anticipating that yet. Either way on the test results, I will let you know.