COVID Positive

It was bound to happen. It's actually pretty amazing it hadn't already happened. Yesterday, my husband texted me while I was proctoring a standardized test for my students, who are in their first full week of the school year this week. My husband had tested positive for COVID. He'd been dealing with a scratchy throat since the weekend, but we had literal ash falling out of the sky on Saturday due to wildfires in our area, so we chalked it up to "attributable to another cause" until he also started feeling achy and fatigued.

As soon as I read his message, I called for another adult in the building to come hang out in my classroom, proctoring the test, so I could take a rapid test. A friend and coworker found a KN5 mask for me to wear. The antigen test result was negative, and I felt fine. So I went back to class, attempting to keep my distance from others and keeping the mask on for the rest of the day.

In the afternoon I began to feel a tickle in the back of my throat. I hoped it was psychosomatic given that I knew my husband had tested positive. Thankfully, the students had already been dismissed to "exploratory" classes, and I was alone in my room. After carpool, I felt a headache coming on, and the tickle had become a genuine discomfort that had me clearing my throat and dry coughing. I tested again upon arriving home. Still negative, but my symptoms were steadily getting worse.

Arranging for a sub in the second week of school, during standardized testing, without knowing for sure which class periods were going to come through my room took up all the energy I had left last evening. Thankfully I was able to get the teacher I replaced this year, who retired at the end of last year, to come in for me.

Sleeping last night was challenging. Congestion, achiness, and a severe pain in my left arm all made it nearly impossible to find a position that let me relax. Interestingly, my husband reported a similar pain in his hand the night before his COVID positive test. Ibuprofen helped ease the issues and I did get some good rest. 

I took a COVID test upon waking up this morning, and it was positive. I genuinely feel like I've been hit by a truck. Achy, fatigued, feverish (with chills when I attempt to cool down), constant congestion... A coworker called to ask for a password to get into the standardized testing site so my sub could proctor a test today, and she said she didn't even recognize my voice because I'm so congested. I slept most of the day, and although I tasted the yogurt I ate for breakfast, my lunch was completely tasteless. It was a very strange sensation. I am hopeful my case will be "mild" and I'll be able to return to normal life (though masked) on Tuesday... which is also my curriculum night.

With an overnight retreat the first week of school and standardized tests the second, my students really haven't seen how our classroom will actually operate this year. What a strange start to the school year.