testing negative and being non-infected with Covid - slight comment

I wasn't planning on doing this but after a few days of hearing news from all over the place (thanks to being involved with someone who listens to Fox and "christian radio", I've gotten a view from there as well as the European sector that I cover on a regular daily basis and then the NPR and "liberal media" we both listen to....).

Anyhooo..... since part of what I'll be writing here shouldn't be an issue on anyone - regards republican or democrat - since it is fact.

The facts are as follows:

SARS-CoV-2 replicates in upper lung or lower lung, but most often is detected in respiratory part of the back of the nose (nasopharyngeal part). 

The PCR tests are designed to find the RNA in the swabs that are put in our noses - or sometimes the back of the throat - and will pick up virus and parts of the virus to show detection when run through the test.

The quick test - is having a high degree of certainty when positive (that means there is presence of virus in you) but the degree of false negatives is pretty high. This means that the Limit of Detection (LOD) as I previously wrote about, will be higher than 0. There's also a pure biological reason that the rapid test is having a low detection level of people "who might be infected but test negative" since there virus need to replicate to a point of detection. None of the test on market - understandably so - can say that they know you are infected the same day or day after (or even up to day "before you have symptoms") - since there LOD is not as sensitive as that.

Short explanation is this: you meet your friend and hug them. They are infected with SARS-CoV-2 and breathe when they say "Happy to see you". You get some of that breath, and viral particles, in your breath that you take into your lungs/upper respiratory tract (back of the nose/throat). The virus is all happy getting cells to infect and starts getting to work.... that means multiplying.

Depending on how well the virus is multiplying inside your cells, the number of cells and number of viral particles and RNA in your system (cells in the nose/lungs, bloodstream or stool) will vary. That's why some people show "positive" on the testing after 2 days after exposure, or others don't show it until 10 days. Either of them could be sick, have symptoms, and get others sick - it's all individual. That's why the guidelines say 5-14 days for quarantine.

As I explained to my parents - both over 70 - when I went to see them. I had a high risk event when flying, and I said "I want to wait 10 days before meeting you outside" (I'd still wear a mask since I'm the potential spreader at that point). The key facts for me are the scientific articles that say "after 11 days of quarantine without symptoms from a high risk/positive covid19 encounter, 97% are non-positive") .

When I re-entered USA to go to home to my house, I lived in my guest room for 9 days  - monitoring my temperature and symptoms - since it was important to me not getting anyone else potentially infected, and then I got a PCR test on day 8 since if my flight was the potential spreader moment. The test would pick up me as infected after 8 days even if I was symptomatic due to the viral replication rate as reported.

I feel like this aspect has been lost in the discussion. The test will NOT pick up on you being exposed today, yesterday, day before yesterday and maybe not day before that. Why? Because there isn't enough virus in you to get a positive in the test. the Swab is only so good. The swab doesn't go everywhere where the virus might be. The amount of virus is not what the Swab need it to be to pick it up.

This is what's mentioned in the discussion as "wait to test until 4 days after exposure" and quarantine until then. It's also why "going to work every day without social distancing even if you test every day will keep you safe from potential infections" (since you don't know who met someone infected the night before since the test will show up as negative that morning after....). 

Everyone with a basic biology degree should know this. 

Anyone having an infectious disease degree or knowledge knows this. Anyone with a pandemic preparedness knows this.

That's why I'm so confused seeing the "Rose Garden Event" from last Saturday since people are not only kissing and huggin (outdoors), they are also gathering indoors without any social distancing. It's confusing on a Risk level, and on a "protection level"

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that; people in the WH really didn't think Covid19 was an issue from the President, not any of the people surrounding him, since otherwise they would've taken precautions like social distancing, mask wearing indoors and no people cheek kissing and then talking to the president.  

Again, I feel like repeating - "What do I know? I'm just a PhD in microbiology with a speciality of virology and pandemic".....

12 days of Christmas - Day 1 "Leaving old job"

I think 12 days of Christmas is more likely to happen and be more fun than 12 months of blogging, since this year hasn't been my most productive year to say the least. So, here it goes.

(Addition after the fact. I found that I had covered some of this in my first two posts of the year: Transition Part 1 and Part 2. ah well, goes well with the looping of the year, doesn't it?)

Day 1 - Leaving old job
I thought that I had written about leaving my "industry" job last year but it seems like I haven't. It was my first permanent job and I was quite happy getting it after my post-doc. It was one of those "half entry level jobs" that didn't really have a career ladder when I started. I promptly told my then-boss that the likelihood of me staying more than 3-4 years was very slim since I didn't get the PhD and the post-doc to stay in a job forever without getting promoted and moving "upwards". Some might call it cocky? I thought it was good to talk about expectations early on in the job.

My main reason for getting that job, and for them to hire me, was that I needed to learn the GMP world of regulations. They needed a microbiologist & virus specialist to implement and train some new virus things, as well as some more generic microbiology things. It seemed like a match made in heaven. And so it was, for a few years.

After a slight reorganisation, new people in charge, some people were moved and some people were promoted - I got slightly new job responsibilities. Lots more responsibilities and even "signing off on important things". The one thing that didn't change though? My salary or job title.

I'm not really all that job savvy all the time. I've been told many times "dress for the job you want", "do the job to get promoted into the job" etc so at first I didn't really raise too many complaints about this new order. I was quite happy getting the increased responsibility since it meant "they liked my work ethic and trusted me" (hello ego check). We had a conversation with the big boss about getting me a promotion since there was an obvious gap in the department I was in and I would fit perfectly in that newly made position, which also covered the new responsibilities. All said and done, promises were made and "you will get that promotion soon".

Time went on. I got more responsibilities and yet, no change in title nor salary. After being led on for quite some time I decided that I could start playing a little more hard ball. As in when I was asked to sign off on certain things* when my boss was away I punted it upwards and stated "it's above my pay grade". Big boss agreed and signed off themselves. so... point made?! The chip finally dropped when the second budget got passed without making the promotion room (for me) happen. There were some other smaller things happening (men getting promoted and getting hired above me in other departments) and I realized that I would have to find a job and then negotiate based on that.

Said and done. One day I saw an ad for a project manager job in a non profit/academia. It sounded pretty nice, it was also paid more than I were getting. I applied, went for interviews and got my ducks in a row. The interview was very fun, I felt relaxed and connected with the people who met me and talked about the job. I was a little concerned about a few things, asked and got some pretty decent responses. Then the salary negotiations began. I didn't really excel in those - mainly because I wanted out of my old job. I had come to the realization during the application process that I was ready to move and ready to do something else. If you want out of your job, you don't play hard ball as much as needed** (more on this for another day since it's a good reminder for the future evaluations and incentives to stay).

I got offered the job. I asked my big boss for a chat. Told them that I had been offered a new job, higher up than my current one, and that I was ready to move on. They offered me an equivalent job right on the spot, complete with increased salary and position ladder move. I didn't want to play the "trust game" since nothing would've been legally binding and I had technically been "promised" a promotion the last x amount of months... so I kindly explained that I had been very excited about this new opportunity and wanted to take the leap over to Project Manager rather than staying in the lab. Big boss was understanding and still when I see them we chat. I gave them over a month's notice to finish off my projects and writing those final reports - that may have helped with the good ending?!

Moved over to start the next chapter of my career - project manager/coordinator outside of the bench but still working in science and even getting publications!.

despair.com - demotivators

*important thing for me was that these things would be stuff that eventually go into people in phase I trials. yeah... hello.... And really, I don't think they did it in a fair way to make the lowly paid person sign off on something that important.

**got reminded the other day since the yearly increase wasn't really to my liking. I had to mention that if this is the maximum incentive to do a great job - I'm less likely to stay several years in the same position. And I've already gotten some extra responsibilities and sign off duties. See a pattern? I do.

some days are dodge-ball like

I thought I would continue with the "inspirational cards" since I am mulling over the next blog posts and for now, these cards are proving to be worth a lot to me. Stressful times at the moment and some words of wisdom can help me... 

stay tuned for more.

(I did post one card tuesday on twitter so why not repost that one here too? Especially suitable this week for me since I'm off Friday. Oh glorious long weekend and a much needed short vacation!)

The things we don't do

It seems fitting for a Monday morning when I am procrastinating writing a few reports, finalizing an assays and having another meeting about all those other things. "The things I don't do" are the things I stress out about, not the things I do. It's fascinating that it always goes in the same circle: nervousness about doing all the stuff, putting all the stuff off, being more nervous, putting the things off even more.... rinse and repeat. Then once I make one thing I feel relaxed, although a little annoyed that it took me that long to remember again that "it's just to bite a chew and do it".

So today I'll bite down and get it done. Go away report I (and maybe II), I will get you done!

(I have a few of these inspirational cards that I found when I was cleaning the house this weekend. Oh yes, procrastinating = clean house. Always a silver lining somewhere.... I'm thinking the cards might be a good segway into blogging a little more regularly, maybe someone else will like them too?)