A Personal Account of Why You Should Definitely Worry About COVID-19
By Victoria Gaudin
As I was packing, I felt a little uneasy about the weekend ahead. I had scheduled my engagement photos weeks ago, sure that coronavirus spikes would be nonexistent. My photographer and I had chosen my home town in Louisiana for convenience, but most people in Louisiana were not taking this virus seriously (hence the reason it was a hot spot). I pushed away that pesky queasy feeling and told myself that if no one else was going to be safe, then I would be. I’d be fine. Besides, these photos needed to be taken and this was my only weekend off.
So, I went. The photos went off without a hitch and I even got to spend some time with friends that I hadn’t seen for a while (after making sure they all adhered to CDC guidelines, of course).
Me (Victoria), and my fiancé, Shea.
It wasn’t until I was back in Texas that my fiance started feeling bad. He works at a casino in Louisiana and commutes every weekend. He had stayed behind to pick up a few extra shifts. He called me that Wednesday to tell me he felt like shit. We both blew it off and blamed it on being overworked. I told him to get some rest. I didn’t let myself think it was the other thing.
The next day, my fiance's boss told him that two of his coworkers tested positive for COVID. He left work early to get a test. I told him to stay there until his results came back. On Friday, he got the all clear: no COVID! We were both so relieved: Shea is considered high risk because of his asthma.
On Sunday, Shea got another call from the Urgent Care in Louisiana. “We thought we saw something suspicious,” the woman’s voice crackled over the speakerphone. “So we ran your test again.” This time, it came back positive.
“But I feel fine now,” he said.
We decided that both of us should get tested in Texas, him to be sure, and me to see if I could still go to work. It was nearly impossible to find a place that would take us, but eventually we did and scheduled a test for the next day.
That was when I woke up with a cough. Shit.
The doctor told us that he rarely ever sees a false positive, so if it took two tries for Shea’s first test to come back positive, this one would likely come back positive too. He didn’t give us a clear date for when our results would come back. Not like it matters.
By Tuesday, I was 95% sure I had COVID. I had all the classic symptoms: felt like I had the flu, dry cough, fever. I was miserable and terrified. Sure, Shea’s seemed to be a mild case, but what if mine landed me in the hospital? Thankfully, that didn’t happen because my fever broke the next day, but I was left with aches and a sinus infection so intense I felt like I was going to constantly throw up for days.
via FiveThirtyEight
On Wednesday, I found out that everyone that Shea and I hung out with back home was sick too. Two of them have tested positive for COVID. While we all got lucky with a very mild case of it, this virus is still highly contagious. We ALL thought we were being safe (we didn’t even hang out in public), but now all eight of us are COVID positive.
So, maybe you’re getting real tired of this whole quarantine thing. Or maybe you think it’s all a hoax. I promise it’s not. Please try to stay inside as much as possible because let me tell you, I’d give anything to go to the grocery store again.