The transition from covid isolationism - late file

I spent the last 10 days moving cautiously around the house, mostly in my son’s bedroom to prevent my husband and son from getting Covid-19. The good and bad of it is I know exactly how I got a good dose of the virus - one day before my sister started showing symptoms she was loudly discussing her political view points from the driver’s seat as I cautiously found points I could agree with before mindfully trying to pull her from the edge of what I in part feel like is the cliff that falls into a worm hole of several conspiracies - not all without merit - but regardless of the topic - she was loud and spewed a fair amount of viral particles into an enclosed space and I took it having thrown some caution to the wind or at least made some subconscious choice that this moment or that one my child was having from the back seat several feet away with his beloved cousins was worth it and I didn’t really know because well they don’t believe in masking and how deadly covid could be was not enough for the various mandates the government was and is continuing to try to impose - many of which I completely agree with but here we are - I got covid and I was sick - fevers, chills, mild headache, body aches which lead into some mild inflammation around my heart and then congestion. 

Have I fully recovered - is that random scratchy throat or occasional sharp chest pain a residual symptom or something else entirely? Am I yet experiencing any myriad of symptoms that have affected our “long haulers?” 

I don’t know but I’m cautiously optimistic and even though I had some creeping fears and the chest discomfort wasn’t all too comforting to the say the least …just like I tell my patients, first and foremost, stay positive. I took my airborne and used a few drops of essential oils. Mostly ate salads when my appetite was good. That was reassuring actually I never lost my appetite and I could always breathe despite the slight discomfort. 

So yea I have my uncertainties and I do think 10 days may have been extra to stay away from my husband; it definitely was getting to be too much to stay away from my son but he later tested positive so we starting isolating together. I have to admit - I probably didn’t do the best job following guidelines for him but I think that’s worth discussing. 

His teacher tested positive on Friday so his classroom went remote. He was in contact with his cousins all weekend who I presumed had covid but of course extremely mild symptoms. A headache that lasted a couple of hours in the morning and a sore throat and another an extra bit of runny nose. I would say that’s typical of what I’ve seen for kids and covid-19. I thought I had tested negative that morning so I went with maybe I’m just run down from the trip. James went to school - he had no symptoms. I come home and realize the home test I took was actually positive but it hadn’t shown up when I first checked it.

School is a critical infrastructure for our children. James was asymptomatic and he had had covid within the last 3 months and by then he had already been to school, it had been 5 days from his first contacts (albeit not his last) So anyway, I am pro test to stay strategy but test to stay is not feasible forever - so what do you do? How many days do kids need to miss out on and are they better off at home? Are they as likely to spread it? Should he have been more vigilant at wearing a mask during this time? Masking forever is definitely not an answer and even now our kids breathing recycled mask air is not good; I know I hate it. I did test him all week everyday before he went, negative each time and he didn’t have any symptoms…kinda. He sneezed a couple of times maybe Thursday. Was that really enough to hold him back from going to school- okay parenting decision - I guess I should have known better but he still tested negative so it could have been from anything …  ah long story short I don’t know what else happened or who else was in contact with whom because the positivity rate is through the roof and his teacher called out after Friday. 

Of course I’m wishing I could do a replay of all the classroom interactions and viral particles hoping my son wasn’t case O - I highly doubt it. Which then leads me to the question is did he get it from his class/teacher  and if so, did he get a completely different strain and am is that bit of scratchy throat the beginning of another infection…but really can I get one now right after…a few days and time will tell. 

In the meantime, I’m making my transition back into the rest of the house and oh so glad I’ve stopped wearing my mask around the house or the in car with my son…I hope people remember even when using their mask for good reason to limit spaces and times in which a mask is necessary as well as to find time and space to take it off to breathe in fresh open air! 

To my husband, I am hoping we did a good enough job to prevent you from catching covid-19 at least for right now because two people sick in the house is no fun and the complications exists or even a week of illness is not great if you can help it. 

That’s my story. Lots of challenging decisions and maybe not all the best choices - but that was COVID and new territory. Best thing to do now learn what we didn't learn but that's a whole different challenge.