Finally Got COVID

 

The dreaded double bars.

Earlier in the pandemic, I liked to imagine COVID as a zombie survival game. Getting sick was the equivalent of getting bit, and the amount of time you avoided the virus was how long you'd survive in a zombie apocalypse. So this means I survived, what, three years and nine months? Not bad.

Last Thursday, me and Lee-Anne went to Brampton so that we could more easily reach something in Toronto on Friday. After that, I went solo to Guelph to meet up with my family and went back home Saturday evening. Felt kind of sore and achy on the Sunday, and on Monday I wasn't feeling better so I called in sick. Partway through the day, Duncan sent a message saying that he did a COVID test and it came back positive. I did one and so was I.

Lee-Anne's had COVID before and even though we were living in the same space, we did some rudimentary safety precautions and I managed to avoid catching it. We tried the same things but this time it didn't work. She caught it, and eventually Mom did too.

It's not just my first time, it's the same for Mom and Duncan. Since almost everyone I know has had it at least once, I had come to think that we might be immune. Maybe some new strain has mutated in a way that bypasses our immunity.

There's no saying for sure where it came from, but I think I was the initial carrier. I was the first to show symptoms and I did the most recent traveling. Still, the incubation period must have been short, since I was only in contact with them for a night and a day, and Duncan got sick only a day after me.

As far as symptoms go, it hasn't been too bad. I had a low grade fever for a couple of days that has since died off and I have a dry cough. It's been the same for Lee-Anne, but she's still in an earlier stage so she's a bit more uncomfortable presently. Duncan got it the worst, with a pretty mean fever, and apparently Mom's pretty miserable too. They both say they're beginning to feel better, though.

It's interesting, if you look at the picture of my COVID test, you'll notice that the bottom line is darker than the top. That's the one that confirms the virus. Duncan sent a pic of his test and the bottom line was darker than mine, and his symptoms were worse. Now that my fever has died down, I'm still testing positive but the lower bar is even fainter. I wonder if the darkness of the line indicates intensity of the illness.

I'm kind of glad I went back on Saturday instead of Sunday, because if I'd waited I would have started showing symptoms in Guelph and likely would have had to quarantine there. I'm also happy that I called in sick even though I didn't think to test for COVID.

I've had to take a week off so far. To return to work, I need to either be without symptoms for five days or test negative. A lot of the time people continue to test positive long after they stop being infectious. But I've had a lingering cough from a previous cold, so if that counts as a symptom things could stretch out for awhile.

Luckily our house was pretty stocked when we got sick, and since we've been healthy at different times we've been able to rotate cooking duties. So our COVID meal plan so far has included chicken soup, pulled pork, and shepherd's pie. We haven't lost our sense of taste or smell.