I flew to and from the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival to help promote my short animated film, COVID Dystopia. I wore a KN-95 mask while I traveled and anytime I was indoors.

I believe I was infected on Delta flight 1652 between Detroit and Orlando Florida.I think my facial hair caused a leak in the mask seal.

On that long flight where every passenger but myself went unmasked, several people were coughing up their lungs the entire two hour flight. Airlines are supposed to have HEPA filters for the air piped into the cabin, so I had my air vent blowing directly at me. My eyes went unprotected. In the future I plan to get some goggles.

Several days after this flight, on Thanksgiving, I started to get a sore throat. I tested myself and was relieved to test negative with the at home test by Binax Now. Thinking I just had a slight cold, I spent the weekend helping a friend with an art project. I realize now I should have stayed home. Though most of the work was done outside, my friend caught the cold and got incredibly tired.

Seeing my fried crash, I decided to test myself again for COVID when I got back to my studio. This test was done with the OHC free test supplied by the US government. This time I tested positive for COVID-19. The first Binax Now test had offered a false negative result. It offered false hope.

I had managed to avoid the virus for 5 years but promoting COVID Dystopia turned out to be the most dangerous thing I have done since the start of the pandemic. The film tries to warn people that the pandemic is not over, and that the virus is circulating freely among us all year long. The tag line for the film is, “We might be done with COVID but COVID is not done with us.” It is ironic that I was infected while shouting into the void that message that no one at any film festival wants to hear.

After testing positive for COVID, I went into 5 days of isolation. Ironically it was a Delta executive who cut down the CDC’s recommendation of 10 days of isolation to just 5 days of isolation. The Delta executive could not keep pilots and stewardesses in the air since they kept getting sick. He felt it was better that they return to flight even if they were infected with COVID-19. The planes, had to run on time, to help spread the virus all across America and the world. Executives and politicians across America quickly adopted the 5 day rule though it is not based on science, just wishful thinking.

After 5 days of isolation, I tested again and tested positive for COVID-19 again. I will therefor be going into isolation for 5 more days. Since I had not shopped for food since well before Thanksgiving, I learned to use Instacart to restock the my food supplies. I wasn’t about to shop while infected.

If I didn’t know better I might think COVID was just like a bad cold. But I know COVID is a vascular disease more like HIV than a cold. The initial infection no longer caused the horrifying lung infections from the early days of the pandemic. COVID is a vascular disease that breaks down immunity and causes damage to the heart and brain and  just about every organ in the body. All of this goes unseen so people can ignore it and pretend that life has returned to pre-2019 normal until it is too late. I have to wonder how many of my brain cells have now fused and died, thanks to COVID.

If I am correct about getting infected on Delta flight 1652, then I have had COVID-19 for 16 days so far. I will be testing again on Friday the 13th of December 2024. If COVID kills me, I want the following carved on my headstone, Thomas John Thorspecken, Born May 22, 1961, Dumont N.J., Died ______ Orlando Florida, “We might be done with COVID, but COVID isn’t done with us.”

After testing positive for COVID–19, I went into 5 days of isolation. I decided I would test after those 5 days to see if the test would come up negative.

I was likely infected on Delta Flight 1652 from Detroit to Orlando. I suspect that flight since several unmasked passengers were coughing their lungs up the entire flight. I wore a kn-95 mask the entire trip but it must not have had a snug enough fit. I started showing symptoms of a cold 3 days after that flight. I spent Thanksgiving prone on the couch. I did an at home COVID test which came up negative. I was thankful that I only had a cold.

The next weekend I spent outside helping a friend with an art project. By the end of that weekend the cold had us both exhausted. I feel horrible that I infected my friend. When I got back to the studio I tested for COVID a second time since I have heard advice to re-test after 48 hours. That test came up positive. From that point I went into 5 days of lock down, to keep the virus from spreading any further.

After 5 days of lock down I tested again and the test came up positive for COVID-19. I will be self isolating for 5 more days and will test myself again at the end of the week. It is ironic that a Delta CEO decided to only allow for 5 days of isolation for pilots and air crew who have COVID. The CDC first recommended that people isolate for 10 days. Airline executives realized it was hard to keep planes in the air since pilots were constantly sick. Somehow his 5 day policy spread to everywhere in the country. Having the sick return to work is the only way to keep the gears of capitalism grinding forward. Health be damned, what matters is profits.

Today I have to figure out how to use Instacart or Door Dash since I am completely out of food. I had a series of Holiday themed location sketches planned for the week, but I will not go out in public while infected with COVID-19. I have to start packing up the studio, but that will have to wait until I test negative again.

The tests I have been using are the free ones that were distributed quietly by the government months ago. The first at home test that I used was from Wallgreens and cost me $20. I no longer trust that brand of test since it came up with a false positive. I have just one more government test and in 5 days I hope it comes up negative.

This was a quick demo done for one of my online students. My goal is to convince students that carrying a sketchbook or iPad to a restaurant or any venue is preferable to scrolling through a phone.

The people are drawn a bit sloppier that what I might usually do when sketching on location.

Brush strikes were put down quickly to encourage the student to loosen up.

Having caught COVID, despite being masked, on flight 1652 between Detroit and Orlando, I am isolating myself in my studio. I have been sleeping on the couch, and I might do a self portrait of my couch sick bed today.

When I got to Pittsburgh I checked into the hotel and then got several sliced of pizza since I hadn’t eaten all morning. Then I slipped into the Harris Theater to pick up my lanyard. When I asked around one of the organizers asked, “Are you Thomas Thorspecken?” How on earth did she know that? This felt like my 30 seconds of fame. She explained however that I was the last filmmaker to pick up my lanyard. With shorts you can always slip into the theater since a new film will start up shortly. One film I really loved was Planet Walker. The film is about John Frances who began walking everywhere after an oil spill in San Francisco harbor. As an added sign of protest against the fossil fuel industry, he stopped speaking. If he had to communicate he used sign language.

At first John hiked around California but he eventually began waking east following the green areas on his map. He then decided to get a masters degree even though he didn’t speak. After the Exon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, He decided to get his doctorate by writing his thesis on how to prevent oil spills.

Paul Sloop helped curate the slate of short films. After each screening block, he would get on stage with the filmmakers in attendance and ask them a few questions. AS an animator it is amazing to me that many of these short only had a 3 day shooting schedule. For my film with it’s limited animation style, I had a year of animation to accomplish. I could still be animating if I made every character move in every scene. At some point I had to decided enough was enough.

I met the middle filmmaker in this sketch in the elevator on the way up to my room at the end of the day. I gave her my minute long elevator pitch about my film. I don’t know what is next for my film. I have about 6 submissions lined up for acceptance or rejection. I am convinced that COVID Dystopia is the most rejected film in America. No one wants to be reminded about a countries failed response to an ongoing pandemic.