Gayle King was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She’s promoting the one year anniversary of when she started on CBS This Morning. She also has a Sirius radio show that airs every Thursday, and today, at 5pm EST. Gayle said this next episode will be about dating and relationships in the time of covid. Gayle is in lockdown alone in New York and she said that she’s only gone outside twice this entire time. She must be getting food delivered because she also said she doesn’t cook or bake. As for being alone, she said it was tough to be single, especially because her closest friends and family are on the West Coast.
She’s only been outside twice
I didn’t go outside for 32 days. I was so freaked out by it. I went out, it was nice, the birds were singing, it was wonderful, had on a mask. I didn’t go out again for another week. It was this past weekend, so I’ve been out twice in 50-something days. I’m a very people-person. We’re now like human weapons walking around. I just took the antibody test. December/January I had a very bad cough. I went to the doctor three times because I thought I had pneumonia [back then]. I got the antibody test [and my] results were negative. I was really hoping that I’d already had it.On the news that’s getting sidelined by corona
I can’t believe that we’re not talking about [the] political campaign. Here we are in the middle of a very important political campaign and when Joe Biden gets major endorsements it’s not even a lead story anymore because everything is all things corona. I really hope that people pay attention to the political campaign. We all need to get out there and vote. The Ahmaud Arbery case too, that’s a very important story.On her Sirius radio show
It’s every Thursday at 5. I want the topic to be dating in covid or relationships in covid. Covid relationships are either going to bring you closer together or they’re going to rip you apart. There’s either going to be more divorces or more babies. Relationships and covid, dating and covid, how’s it going for you. What’s your story? That’s what I want to talk about this Thursday.On being single at this time
This is a tough time to be single, speaking for myself. I wish at this point I wasn’t by myself, but I also know I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m healthy, I have a job that I really like, I like the place that I live. I think everybody wants to share their life with someone, especially during times like this. I have great friends, my children and I are very tight. Everybody I really care about is in California. I’m here in New York. I don’t know when I’m going [there], I’m not getting on the plane.
[From The Late Show]
It bums me out to see successful older women who want a life partner and haven’t found their match. I don’t think it’s true that “everybody” wants to share their life with somebody but she didn’t overstate the point, and she didn’t specify that it had to be a romantic relationship either. The context made it sound like she could mean friends and family.
Also, I’m worried about taking the antibody test for the same reason that Gayle mentioned. I really thought I got covid earlier in March, but I’m worried that I’m going to find out I didn’t have it, or that even if the test is negative I won’t know if it’s accurate. Even if it’s positive that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s accurate or that you’re immune.
Here’s the second part of Gayle’s interview where she talks about being alone. The first part is here.
same Gayle. i took the antibody and covid test at the same time and was negative for both. i was bummed as i wanted to test positive for the antibody.
my single friend in her mid 50s also expresses the desire for companionship and that’s a normal response because we are social people. i am embracing this opportunity to spend more time with my kids and husband.
My friend’s doctor said that the antibody test is only 50 percent accurate which means there is no point in taking it. So I would pay no mind to those results.
“I can’t believe that we’re not talking about [the] political campaign. Here we are in the middle of a very important political campaign and when Joe Biden gets major endorsements it’s not even a lead story anymore because everything is all things corona. I really hope that people pay attention to the political campaign. We all need to get out there and vote.”
Yes, people. PLEASE pay attention to November too.
My family is one the opposite coast and I don’t know when I’m going to see them again because I’m not getting on a plane anytime soon. I imagine there are a lot of families in this same situation.
A close friend of mine got divorced almost four years ago and he has been in a tailspin ever since then, just so utterly lost without a partner. I couldn’t have begun to fathom how much trouble he would have being alone. And the problem is, I don’t think he’ll be able to be in a healthy relationship until he can also be at peace with being alone. It’s like a vicious cycle and I’m at such a loss for how to help him. At times I’ve feared for his life, his despair has been so crushing.
So, yes, I do think many people want to share their life with someone, some much more than others.
There’s already an antibodies’ test in the States? Here in Canada they’re still developing one, they wanna make sure they can detect it even in people who had the mildest symptoms, and it’s not set to become available for a few weeks, maybe months yet. I wonder how accurate the one in the States is, and how they developed it so soon, and if it’s accurate then why aren’t we using it here? Interesting.
I believe there are a few different tests here in the U.S. — I have a couple friends who have had them done — and I think the accuracy of all of them is somewhat in question. And in the end since we don’t yet seem to know definitively if the antibodies actually provide a decent amount of immunity, I don’t really even see the point of taking the test right now.
Accuracy is definitely an issue. I had the antibodies (IgG, IgM, IgA) test. IgA came back positive, subsequently had to get the covid swab, which was negative. 2 weeks later the lab changed their monitoring guidelines for IgA, reran the sample, and now it is negative for me. That happened with everyone who had positive IgA results, at the practice where I work. IgA is an antibody they still don’t know a lot about though in relation to C19, compared to IgG and IgM.
@Esmom @Imucu
Thanks for sharing those insights! it’s unfortunate it doesn’t sound very accurate, but at least it’s they’re trying something. Every mistake or inaccuracy can be a launchpad for progress. I’m hoping when they develop it in Canada they’ve accounted for those inaccuracies and design a better method.
I hope she finds someone, she’s a total catch. But she has her life together and men aren’t super flexible in my experience.
I was never interested in marriage or kids and it was fine until everyone else started going off in pairs. Suddenly your group of friends is scattered and everone has a completely separate thing going on. I’m mid-30s and honestly, it’s still okay. I do wonder what happens when my parents are no longer alive (they had me really late) and my sister gets married etc. But I know myself too well to compromise too much. I like living alone. I like my freedom. I like not discussing budgets for vacations etc. with a boyfriend. Sharing you life with someone sounds wonderful but not at any cost. And most people want the whole thing. Living together, marriage, most also want kids. I don’t know what it’s going to be like for me at 50 or 60 but I DO know what I would regret.
I hope she finds a partner that is good for her, I’ve always liked her. I have noticed that younger people are flexible with relationships and finding what works for them (open relationships, polyamory, dating same sex and non binary people) and older people (not that Gayle is old in my mind! ) are more rigid in what they think they want and maybe would be happier in something less traditional. A friend of mine in her late thirties had always dated men then met a lovely woman that swept her off her feet and is happier than ever. If she hadn’t been open to that relationship she may have missed out on a life partner.
wrong place.