This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Reading Covid stats these days isn’t much fun.

Especially, as in my case, because I came down with the Covid a few days ago.

Here is how the Oregonian newspaper reported the status:

“Patients infected with the coronavirus took up 363 Oregon hospital beds Wednesday, a 16 per cent increase over the previous week that signals COVID-19′s continued presence, and impact, on the state and its already strained health care system.

“New cases of the coronavirus have also grown, with new state data showing 3,914 new cases reported this week which, at 10 per cent more than the previous week, is all the more notable given testing in Oregon fell by about 6,500 COVID-19 tests, or 15 per cent.

“Months ago, health officials effectively dismissed state-reported cases numbers as a metric by which to judge the state of the pandemic in Oregon and elsewhere.  That’s because people who test positive using an at-home test don’t have to report those results to the state — assuming they test for the virus at all.  But whether cases are climbing or declining does reflect, if not the prevalence of the virus, its immediate trajectory.”

See, I told you.

Pretty dry.

But, what seems clear is that Covid is no longer declining.  Incidence is rising.

A friend of mine who lives down the street is a doctor for Salem Health, our regions’ major hospital system.  She told me that Salem Health is on “divert,” which means that it is no longer able to accept admissions – and who knows what happens if you have a major health scare and cannot get into the hospital?

As for me, my Covid started quickly a few days ago and seemed more like a bad cold than anything else.  But I did test at home and got a positive reading. 

So, I am like others mentioned in the Oregonian paragraph above.  I have Covid, but have not reported it to anyone, nor is there a requirement to do so.  And, at least so far, I am not in need of hospital care.

Here’s hoping that I recover from this episode, so I am not longer part of a dry list of statistics.