OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

My love tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. His symptoms developed suddenly and were confusing even to the doctor, who tested for COVID-19 just in case, but was pretty certain it was something else. It wasn’t, but after his terrible health scare earlier this year, I was more worried about my love’s general condition than the possibility of COVID-19. He is not great, but at home with excellent oxygen levels and under doctor’s supervision. He should be on the mend. I am thanking all goddesses for vaccines. He has a very good idea where and when he got infected because someone who was with him is experiencing the same symptoms and at the same time. He has informed all close contacts – fortunately there weren’t many and all are vaccinated and/or fully recovered from COVID-19 already. I am the closest and last contact before the test result.

According to the latest recommendations:

“For those in contact with a COVID-19 positive patient we quarantine for 10 days from the time of last contact … A negative test does not exclude a diagnosis of COVID-19 due to the possibility of a false negative result and thus a negative test does not allow the close contact to end quarantine early … It generally takes between 2 and 5 days from the time of contact with a COVID-19 positive person to develop symptoms. The best day to test after an unprotected exposure to COVID-19 is day 8 if asymptomatic or day 3 of symptoms if symptoms do develop. This yields the lowest false negative rate at 20 percent when doing a COVID-19 PCR swab. Our current false positive rate is extremely low at 1 percent.”

I have no symptoms whatsoever, so this is day one of quarantine and symptom-watch. The first time I was in quarantine after close contact with a COVID-19 positive person, I was really scared, for my friend and for myself. We hadn’t been vaccinated yet. Luckily, she recovered, I never developed symptoms.

When I suspected having COVID-19 myself (and it turned out to be a typical cold, the PCR test negative), I was no longer afraid for my life as I was fully vaccinated by then. Self-isolating wasn’t fun, but it passed quickly. This time around, I am worried for my love – not so much about COVID-19 itself as he is also fully vaccinated, but the management of his underlying conditions that the COVID-19 symptoms are making difficult to handle. Quarantine for me is – at least for now – only a logistical inconvenience (I have to shop online for essentials). I hope I will not develop any symptoms and test negative when it’s time to do the test, but I am no longer frightened for my life. My only concern is my love’s speedy full recovery.

Work from home continues as usual. Thank goodness Salieri and I got our paws on the latest Ballard and Bosch thriller before going into quarantine. We need a bit of thrilling escapism right now.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD