Lockdown Day 39: The most Kafkaesque explanation of 2x/day antigen testing + 1x/day PCR testing

Last night I had set the Xiaomi on timer, to make a bowl of steel cut oats. I decided to make it savory today, by topping it with salted olive vegetable and a cube of fermented tofu (I would have put in two cubes, but I noticed I might not have much left in the bottle).

PCR test came early in the day, just after I briefed my team and before we started our day of desk work. The tester didn’t touch my face today with her finger! Win!

I came back and made a cup of coffee mixed with a powdered drink of red bean and other ingredients, that I’ve been wanting to use up.

Lunch was the roasted vegetable pasta-less lasagna. So delicious; maybe better as leftovers. This I accompanied with the very lightly dressed coleslaw from a few days ago. Also good.

The big shock/laugh/sadness of the day was getting the most illogical, mind-bending explanation of why we take 2 antigen tests per day.

Our entryway leader said in the following message, “Hi everyone, we need to continue doing antigen self-tests, and I hope everyone will really do them each time, and not be over-confident, reporting antigen tests from several times ago (today this was discovered during the PCR testing.”

Okay, so this is the good part:

“Why do we do 2x [antigen] tests a day? The test on the same day is to see if we were infected during the [earlier] PCR test, and the following morning’s test is to see if the PCR test from the day before was correct.”

What?? So they acknowledge that doing these PCR tests is a risk, because we are taking off our masks and especially because the medical staff are not careful and touch people’s faces with their gloved hands! And why is the less sensitive antigen test used to check if the so-called gold standard of PCR test is accurate? We get the PCR test results within 12 hours, so usually before we do the following morning antigen test, so it’s not a timing issue.

Absolutely unbelievable.

Then to add to the nightmare scenario, a hazmat-suited guy went to the building opposite to disinfect again. Will this be a daily occurrence? Apparently the guy who was positive there has recovered, and returned. I overheard them saying yesterday and today instructing the disinfection personnel to disinfect the toilet by the entrance. I presume the building has a shared toilet, and so maybe they will be disinfecting regularly in case the recovered patient is still contagious? According to the government, if he’s released from quarantine camp, then he shouldn’t be contagious anymore. So why are they disinfecting his building after his return?

And then it was time to break into my next pack of 25 antigen tests. Oh joy.

I dutifully reported my fresh antigen test.

After work, I prepped the ingredients for dinner: stir-fried noodles! I wanted to give the very thin guamian noodles 龙须挂面 (dragon’s beard thin!) another dry. I boiled them in water this time for only 20 seconds. They were flexible but still very firm and opaque when I took them out and drizzled sesame oil on top. But sitting in its own heat, the noodles proceeded to cook themselves.

Besides the noodles, I also rehydrated lily flower and dried shiitake mushrooms, sliced Chinese sausage, carrot, Napa cabbage, and red onion, minced red onion, and made a sauce of soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil (just by eyeballing it).

I then did my workout of the day (upper body), showered, and then stir-fried my ingredients step by step.

I have to say it came out really well! The noodles still had bite to them (and next time I might try even less than 20 seconds in boiling water!), and the ingredients had such a nice variety of textures, with I think lily flower having the best crunch.