Back in January 2020, I and several adults who were at a small New Year’s Eve gathering got some nasty thing that floored almost all of us and sent my best friend to the hospital for a “pneumonia and bronchitis” diagnosis. Our kids were hardly affected. We might have had Covid. There are some hints that it was hanging out in California as early as January and in a tourist town we always had people passing through from busier cities so who knows.
Two months later and the world shut down, and I’ve so far made it the entire time without catching Covid… Until now.
We’re on a strict testing protocol here at Smith College, twice a week, isolation for seven days if you test positive. My PCR test came back negative and if it weren’t for the fact that everyone on my floor has it, I would have attributed my low-grade headache, sneezing and fatigue to allergies because that’s what it feels like. To be on the safe side though, I took a rapid antigen test and while the line was faint, there no was no denying that the line was there. Yep. Negative PCR test, positive rapid antigen test.
There is very little chance of a false positive on a rapid antigen test, so I’m going to err on the safe side and say I have it. I’m grateful it’s really no big deal for me. I took a chance on the Covid vaccine and I’m really glad I did, as I’m pretty sure it’s one of many reasons why I’m not nearly as sick as I could be. I was a long-time smoker and always felt like I would probably get really sick if I caught Covid because of that but thankfully, I’ve been off tobacco for a year with no desire to start up again. I’m just bored as hell. Commencement is over at Smith now though, and almost everyone who’s leaving has left, so tomorrow I’m going to go out and get myself some fresh air and sunshine. New England only has three good months between “bitter cold” and “disgustingly hot and humid” and I of course catch Covid.
In the meantime, what’s a girl to do? I thought I’d brush up on my copyediting skills and put a certificate on it, so I joined ACES and signed up for nore Poynter copyediting courses. I’ve also been cooking a lot of things from scratch, playing with a DJ mixer, and binge-watching Ozark.
And yes, of course I’m parenting but when you share a 620-square-foot apartment with someone and you’re supposed to social distance from them, it means indoor masks and social distancing, which means my poor kid keeping her bedroom door closed a lot in hopes that she doesn’t get stuck in iso any longer than I am. Thankfully she’s pretty self-sufficient but yesterday she said to me, “Mom, it’s been over 24 hours since I’ve had any human contact. This sucks.”
*sigh*
I know it baby girl, I know… don’t like our “new normal.”
Have you gotten Covid? Did it affect you at all? And what did you do during your isolation time?
