Last week, I might have been exposed to COVID-19. This exposure would have happened between Monday and Wednesday. I found out on Wednesday night, and got tested on Thursday morning.
I feel fine. I don’t have a fever, I can taste and smell things. No shortness of breath or cough. When I got tested, they told me it would take three to five days to get my test results, and that I need to self-isolate until I get my test results. I’m a rule-follower and I’m terrified that I’m going to spread COVID-19 to someone else, so I’ve been following the directions and staying home.
It’s weird – it feels like this has plummeted me back into the early days of the pandemic, where I’m feeling more fearful and more unsure about the future.
Over the summer, I got into a comfortable phase of the pandemic – I certainly wasn’t going out to eat, but I ordered takeout a few times. I knew that I probably wouldn’t be getting on a plane anytime in 2020, but I felt comfortable going to stores wearing a mask. I wouldn’t go get a haircut (my hair is the longest it’s been in years) but I went to the gym a few times, wearing a mask the whole time and getting my temperature checked at the door. I wasn’t as fixated on the data, I checked the number of COVID-19 cases once a week instead of every day.
As of Friday, there have been a total of 5,176 cases of COVID-19 in my county. There have been 59,881 cases in Mississippi. In Michigan, there have been 82,356 cases, and 11,470 cases in the county where my parents live. Jackson Public Schools announced their plans to do distance learning until January, at least. Other school districts are planning to push back their first day of school until September.
I don’t think things will be back to normal until August 2021, at the earliest. And I wonder if things will ever be back to normal, really – there are some things that will never be the way they were in January 2020. I used to stand in the doorway of my classroom and shake hands with every student as they walked into class first thing in the morning. Am I ever going to shake hands with 27 kids, without worrying about it, ever again?