Well, this is not good. My best friend is struggling heavily with COVID symptoms since he tested positive about a week ago. Mild symptoms they are not, though thankfully it’s not severe to the point of an ICU visit. It’s this horrible middle that makes the whole experience terribly unenjoyable. My friend puts it succinctly, “I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
Poor dude. Fingers are crossed that he pulls through in due time.
Concurrently, my housemate got contact-traced to an exposure at her work, so she’s in self quarantine conditions until the test result comes back (negative, hopefully). By the virtue of living under the same roof, that means I’m also not going anywhere for a relatively while. I won’t be going home to see my parents this weekend, nor am I visiting my friends and their kids. Relax, these people have been in my “bubble” so to speak since the beginning of this pandemic.
I also got an email yesterday that there’s been two cases at work on campus! Thankfully, the two infected persons work away from our area in the library, so the chances of it directly affecting me is very slim. In some ways I’m genuinely surprised I haven’t caught COVID myself, given that I’m been physically going into work many times a week. I take them maximum amount of precaution of course, but luck plays a part in it as well.
In the case of my best friend, he had barely left his house in the weeks prior to catching COVID, and yet here he is. The rest of the household is negative, too, so it’s really down to a case of super bad luck. In all honestly we’ve all taken some risks during this time (a friend flew home from another State!), and it’s due to good fortune that we’ve come out unscathed (thus far). Knock on wood furiously.
COVID cases and daily deaths are still at all-time highs in America. Combine with the slow vaccine rollout, now is definitely not the time to let our guards down. I shall continue to go nowhere (other than to get groceries) for many months to come.
Big bad American luxury.