Hello to all of you that check in on my blog from time-to-time. Some of you have written to me wondering where I went, and expressing concern about my well being. I’m fine, just busy and distracted. It seems that many of the things that I didn’t do while driving across the USA didn’t go away, they just backed up into a much larger pile – a pile that is so large that I buried my head in the sand and ran away.

I have been finding many topics that seem to demand discussion, such as the state of education in the USA, health care issues, global warming and many more. They come to mind, I promise to get to them before the end of the day – and before I know it the end of the day is here and nothing is written. In fact, almost nothing is done.

There are many important topics that don’t seem to get adequate “air time.” For example, I have a new girlfriend (if a 75 year old can still be called a “girl” friend) who as a compromised immune system. She has been told that covid could be extremely dangerous for her. She has been told to be extremely careful with regard to exposure – resulting in her becoming an isolated “hermit.” The guidelines are along the lines of “if anyone has been exposed to covid they have to quarantine for a period of time – somewhere between 5 to 10 days – with testing every 48 hours.” This basically means that she is never allowed visitors – resulting in extreme, dangerous, isolation.

However this is not the end of the story. She is also taking a weekly infusion intended to rebuild her immune system. In fact, they are now saying that her immune system is better then “normal.” While they claim success in rebuilding her immune system – they haven’t changed the guidelines. The CDC guidelines say that if a “visitor” has been exposed, or been notified that they have been exposed by a doctor or nurse, they need to isolate at least five days, and test, before encountering an immuncompromised person. However, it doesn’t say anything about what “exposed” means. It is clear that “exposure” might mean being in the general proximity to an infected (but asymptomatic) person. That means anytime anyone is encountered. I don’t believe that is the intent given the other criteria of being told by a health care professional. The problem is that compliance with the guideline means never being able to see the loved one who has a compromised immune system. One trip to the grocery store and the five days starts all over again.

It is unclear why a person that has a “normal” immune system as the result of treatment should be required to maintain an isolation protocol that is the same as before treatment. However, since this is not addressed by the CDC, doctors continue to insist upon the more stringent requirements even though tests show otherwise. There appears to be no “end point” to this, which means that the patent has no way to re-enter normal society – if she follows the guidelines she will never be able to have friends, get out of her house, or even see her doctors. Is this because it is the rationale advice based upon actual knowledge, or it is just the doctors being lazy?

What might the correct decision be? How much risk does she face? How much protection does she get with her isolation and the isolation of her friends and family? Is there a better solution? As it stands, she has to make the choice between death and seeing her loved ones. We all face the future of death, but it would be helpful in situations like this to have a hint of the actually consequences and their probabilities. As it stands her many doctors just point to the CDC recommendation for everyone to isolate five days before contacting her. Is this a rationale choice?