For Who Have NOT Had COVID
Around November 18th, 2020 I began having a sore throat and congestion. On Wednesday, November 25th I also began having chills, fever and fatigue and received a COVID test, which came back the following Friday as positive. I had fallen prey to the gushing current of the COVID-19 pandemic. I spent the next 10 days in isolation per my doctor’s orders, feeling exhausted and doing everything I could to keep my strength up, but also rest. I am 29 years old with no pre-existing health conditions. I basically had the flu with a few added symptoms like loss of taste and smell. Now, at the time of writing this letter I am 100% back to being my usual healthy, spunky self and I’m cleared by my doctor as well.
What I’m going to touch on next has been my personal experience with interacting with people virtually and in person since having it. Before I get into that let me express that I am grateful to every single one of you who took care of me while I had COVID. It’s a nasty virus that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I appreciate everyone that fed me, brought me medicine and groceries and even picked up my bougie water all the way across town. All of this of course dropped off contactless as to keep everyone safe. I am grateful to everyone who sent well wishes and offerings to help in any way they could. The energy and love I received from you all is truly what helped me the most. Knowing I wasn’t alone even though I was isolated.
While on the flip side of this gratitude came additional fatigue as I was inundated with an abundance of repetitive questions, while being sick.
“What are your symptoms?”
“How/where did you get it?”
“What was it like?”
I do know the need for humans to understand what they don’t know about something foreign to them. However, the last thing a sick, or dying, or >insert traumatic event here< person wants is to be reminded incessantly of what it is they’re suffering from. In my personal opinion what I enjoyed the most was when someone would just talk to me like I’m a human. They’d tell me about their day or event that was going on with them, instead of inundating me with exhausting questions about the very thing that was making me miserable, which made me feel like a lab rat. I roughly had 2 people out of 15 actually talk to me about anything other than COVID.
My doctor let me know that by December 4th, which was well past ten days after the onset of my symptoms, I would be cleared and not contagious. Especially, as long as I didn’t have any main symptoms: fever, headaches, cough or chills. I actually stopped having these symptoms around November 30th, but of course waited until the 4th of December like instructed before going out in public. After doing a quick Google search about this I found the latest info from the CDC confirms”
“COVID-19 alert
Common question
How long are COVID-19 patients contagious?
Available data indicate that persons with mild to moderate COVID-19 remain infectious no longer than 10 days after symptom onset. Persons with more severe to critical illness or severe immunocompromise likely remain infectious no longer than 20 days after symptom onset.”
You can read more about that here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/duration-isolation.html
Despite this and being cleared by my doctor I feel like some friends and family are still avoiding me. Obviously that doesn’t feel very good. I do understand their concerns when it comes to safety, and you should do whatever needs to be done to feel safe. My point here is only to offer you the viewpoint of someone who has had the virus and how I would prefer to be treated. We really shouldn’t have a stigma around this for people who have been cleared by their doctor. if you have a friend that had COVID and you’re still uneasy to be around them (which is fine, do what you gotta do Boo-boo) don’t isolate them further by ostracizing them. Instead offer to meet with them virtually or ask if they’d be good with a phone call.
I do sympathize with those who have fear, I mean it is a deadly virus. We all have members of our family that are more vulnerable that we are protecting. I get it, I most certainly didn’t want or expect to get it! I isolated and am now well past it. I’ve since been shopping for groceries and Christman presents and hung out with several friends. None of which have reported any symptoms. We are in a very strange situation at present. There’s not really a rule book for how to act. There’s no one saying what exactly the right or wrong ways of being, after having COVID-19 or knowing someone who has it, are. We are collectively reaching a tipping point in the pandemic as according to the CDC about 16% of the U.S. population has either had, has it or has been/is a carrier of it. You can read about that here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article247457275.html
In summary I am simply a human trying to convey to the other humans of the world to first and foremost treat everyone with kindness, the same kindness you would wish to be treated with if you had had a deadly virus. I’m grateful to have had an amazing group of friends support me! Please for the love of all things good don’t over exhaust those who are ill with questions to quench your own curiosities. Instead, offer them your kindness with thoughts of endearment and being there for them. Finally, properly educate yourself about COVID-19, in full. If you are worried for your safety do not forsake your friends or family who have been exposed. That will only serve to make them feel worse than they already do. Instead make arrangements to connect with them virtually. Truly the only way to get through this is together!
