Last week was typical until I got to Friday around 4:00 p.m., and everything changed. I received a message telling me that someone I interacted with tested positive for COVID-19, and I should quarantine over the weekend and test on Monday. Did I want to hear that? I had three thoughts regarding this: how do I tell my husband? Second, I must stay shut up in my room all weekend and cancel my plans. Third, I need to know if I will experience any symptoms and what type. Will I have a fever, chills, or loss of taste and smell? When I called my husband to tell him the news, there was silence on the phone, and then he said, I’ll pray for you before you come in the house, and anyone that knows my husband, that would be his response.
People experience COVID-19 symptoms differently. Some test positive and have no symptoms, others think it’s their allergies, some lose their taste and smell, and some have symptoms ranging from light to heavy. No matter what, everyone should adhere to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines.
Quarantining in your home can be difficult, especially if your home is not very big. During the weekend, it was a lot of work trying to stay 6 feet apart and sanitizing everything when that wasn’t the norm, but you must do what’s required to keep others safe.
After that long weekend, I decided to take the Covid test Tuesday morning. My family was waiting to hear the news. Are you negative? When I arrived at the facility, I waited patiently for my turn to take the test. I knew I didn’t want to hear the dreaded words “It’s Positive.” The nurse comforted me when she said we start seeing signs immediately if they are positive, but I haven’t seen anything yet”. She said, wait around for 15 minutes, and I’ll bring the results out. She came out and gave me the results that showed negative. I said thank you, Lord. That was the best news ever!
I realized that the people who test positive must consider many factors. They can’t work, and they put other family members at risk. They must quarantine for 10-14 days. They must have a negative test result to resume activities. Being placed in this situation is mentally challenging because all the factors disrupt your life.
I recently heard a few stories that stood out to me. A one-year-old baby tested positive for COVID-19, and the mother tested negative; a few days later, the mother retested, and it was positive. A person worked in her new job for a few weeks, and a co-worker tested positive, and she and other workers tested positive. It put fear in her, and she quit the job. Another person tested positive with no symptoms, which can be frustrating because you have no evidence of sickness, yet you must quarantine.
When more people were vaccinated, the CDC said they didn’t have to wear masks. But who knew the Covid Delta Variant would take us by storm? Companies said you don’t have to wear a mask if you are vaccinated, and the unvaccinated must wear a mask. Within weeks, everything changed; the signs read now, “Vaccinated and unvaccinated, you must wear a mask.”
We cannot escape the possibility that Covid-19 can be a part of our life experience. We must use all the available resources to keep our families and us safe. Some will never comply with the established rules, and that’s fine for them. However, you must know what is best for you and stick to it because you and your loved one’s matter, not what others do in this season of COVID-19.