Jason, June 2020
While most Americans have been living in fear of the elusive Coronavirus plaguing their daily lives, my family actually went through contamination and infection. We thought we were being safe. None of us were in physical contact with any of our friends, we went out in public once every few weeks to get groceries, were super cautious of any possible contaminants, and we didn’t even take out food. Only compromising thing is that we let our house keeper come twice a week to clean the house. “Why can’t I hangout with my friends but we let Fernanda (housekeeper) come?” was a common argument I’d have with my parents who I felt were being hypocritical. Well as it turns out, one Tuesday night my parents told us that Fernanda tested positive with COVID. The virus we had all been so scared of for months had crept its way into our house! My “I knew it” moment was quickly diminished by the aches and pains that let me know that I too was infected. It really seemed unreal. Not a single kid I knew, even knew of anybody who had corona. Lucky me, I guess. The first night of symptoms weren’t too bad but the next night was when it really kicked in. My dad, with a pulmonary condition making him a high risk patient, thankfully tested negative and swiftly moved into a hotel to avoid my contaminated family. The weeks that followed were rather disheartening and difficult. I lay bed-bound for most of my days and my fever and headaches made it uncomfortable to be on a screen so I couldn’t even virtually socialize with friends much. I watched my hard earned physical ‘gains’ slip away from me as I became skinnier and lost a lot of weight. Thankfully I was back to normal around two weeks after I started my symptoms and back on track socially, academically, and physically. Hopefully I’ve built up some antibodies and am at less risk of getting sick again. Pretty cool that I can tell people I had it too considering the fact that no other kids in Wayland have it yet. All in all, it was an interesting and uncomfortable experience that I’m partly glad I had to go through because at least now I know what it's like!
While most Americans have been living in fear of the elusive Coronavirus plaguing their daily lives, my family actually went through contamination and infection. We thought we were being safe. None of us were in physical contact with any of our friends, we went out in public once every few weeks to get groceries, were super cautious of any possible contaminants, and we didn’t even take out food. Only compromising thing is that we let our house keeper come twice a week to clean the house. “Why can’t I hangout with my friends but we let Fernanda (housekeeper) come?” was a common argument I’d have with my parents who I felt were being hypocritical. Well as it turns out, one Tuesday night my parents told us that Fernanda tested positive with COVID. The virus we had all been so scared of for months had crept its way into our house! My “I knew it” moment was quickly diminished by the aches and pains that let me know that I too was infected. It really seemed unreal. Not a single kid I knew, even knew of anybody who had corona. Lucky me, I guess. The first night of symptoms weren’t too bad but the next night was when it really kicked in. My dad, with a pulmonary condition making him a high risk patient, thankfully tested negative and swiftly moved into a hotel to avoid my contaminated family. The weeks that followed were rather disheartening and difficult. I lay bed-bound for most of my days and my fever and headaches made it uncomfortable to be on a screen so I couldn’t even virtually socialize with friends much. I watched my hard earned physical ‘gains’ slip away from me as I became skinnier and lost a lot of weight. Thankfully I was back to normal around two weeks after I started my symptoms and back on track socially, academically, and physically. Hopefully I’ve built up some antibodies and am at less risk of getting sick again. Pretty cool that I can tell people I had it too considering the fact that no other kids in Wayland have it yet. All in all, it was an interesting and uncomfortable experience that I’m partly glad I had to go through because at least now I know what it's like!