By David Fortier 

Come Sunday morning, we were to have headed out for our Christmas tree and together shopped for some Christmas gifts, in person but a good drive which might have taken the entire afternoon. At some point, we were to have dropped off a few items to one of kids and family, and even, possibly, hung around for some quality time with a grandchild. 

On Friday night, the beginning of our big weekend, Mary and I were supposed to have attended Hartford Stage, where one of our favorites, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” is being performed as a radio play. For the longest time, George and Mary Bailey and the folks from Bedford Falls have joined us on Christmas Eve to welcome in our annual celebration. They will again this year, too. 

But, come Sunday morning, we hadn’t done any of it. At 2:20 p.m., on Friday I received a work email informing me that I had been exposed to a person who tested positive for Covid. Since I have been vaccinated and boosted—Mary, too—I was not too concerned, but I did have questions about protocol. And of course, we wanted to get tested to make sure we were not carriers, I do not want to responsible for getting anyone else sick, and to make sure we weren’t positive ourselves—did I mention that I didn’t want to be responsible for getting anyone sick. 

 The only advice from the email said to contact the school nurse if I was symptomatic—chills, headache, fever, cough. Simple enough, but not for me. And then, of course, even if I didn’t have symptoms, I could still be asymptomatic. Well, this time of year, I get some seasonal allergies—runny nose, post-nasal drip, a slight cough, sneezing, sore throat. sometimes a headache. (No fever, though, and I still haven’t had one.) 

Okay, not so simple, but there was a solution. Get tested. Start with one of those 15-minute antibody tests—to make sure I am not spreading anything—and follow up with one of those PCR tests, more accurate, tracking whether I had contracted the virus. Again, should be pretty simple, right?  

After going online to find a location where I could get tested, five minutes, at the most, I figure, I learned that I could not schedule an appointment for days. I stopped into a local concern, where the people there told me that they did not take walk-ins anymore.  

(But they did give me a flier with information about Bristol-Burlington Health District testing several days a week across from City Hall. Tuns out it was the quickest place to get tested, and where I would be headed Sunday.) 

Apparently, no one is taking walk-ins any longer, or at least, I could not find a place that did. 

And then, there was the circuit, from one pharmacy to another across the city to find a home-testing kit. Go online, and the text there says, sure, we’ve got testing kits. Go to the store, and the word is that all the kits are sold out. 

So rather than taking in a play and doing Christmas shopping and tree shopping, it was shopping for tests, and without much success.  

Not so simple. 

This week’s listening/reading comes from a link I received from a friend. The piece is titled, “The Inventor of America’s Most Dangerous Idea.” Click here. As a bonus, try this one too: “Omicron’s Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios.” Click here. 

Have a good week! 

“Come Sunday morning” is intended to be a weekly review, a recounting of the past week and an anticipation of week to come. Among its features will be reviews of old and new books, sharing of favorite podcasts, some family news, Bristol events and happenings and issues surrounding education, work and community journalism. He can be reached at dfortier@bristoledition.org.