Here is my thinking. If there is a party of 200 and 10 people test positive for COVID, that is interesting. If 20 people test positive, then that is significantly more interesting. If 70 people end up positive, that reaches a whole new level. And maybe our experience can be used to help others make better informed decisions.
What Happened. A lighting industry party was held in New York City on Thursday, 9 DEC. Vaccine cards were checked at the elevator—and it wasn’t a casual glace, my card was thoroughly checked and then matched to my ID. On Monday, 13 DEC, I began receiving texts that a few people tested positive for COVID who attended the party. Not feeling well myself, I was tested on Tuesday, 14 DEC and your humble editor tested positive. I am part of the Astra Zeneca study group and had my first COVID vaccine DEC 2020, the second in JAN 2021 and a booster in October. I lost my mother to COVID, so I am quite sensitive to precautions.
Since Monday, I have been tabulating the phone calls, texts and emails I have received. And my count from just the people I’ve heard from as of publishing, is 31 that attended the party have since tested positive. It certainly does not mean all 31 were infected at the party—I don’t have the expertise to draw that conclusion. But I do think that’s a significant number.
You can help. We are trying to determine the accurate number of people who attended the party and have tested positive this week? Please know that I am only interested in the name of the company and the number of positive cases, but not the names of the individuals. With your help, we will publish only the total number of positive cases. We will NOT publish company names or individual names—only the total. But I need to track it by company to prevent redundancy.
If it’s not asking too much we would also like to know if the cases are severe or mild and whether the person believes they have infected anyone else. As for me, I am following guidelines and self-isolating for 10 days. My wife has tested negative twice. My case is quite mild as I have had cases of the flu that were worse than this. Last, if you know that you are negative, please send that info, too, as that will help ensure we have as full of an accounting as possible.
This informal survey will not be perfect. The question is, what is that approximate percentage.
Send your info directly to me at [email protected]