Exposed

Nobody told me I’d been in contact with Covid19 until it was too late

I’ve been very good at sheltering in place. In fact, I don’t mind it too, too much. My biggest struggle is no break from my children. Gone are the days when my youngest naps part of the day, giving me a much-needed break from caregiving. But, I’m surviving. I’m making it just fine. Ready to go the distance to survive this pandemic, whatever the distance is. It is very difficult living in a community that does not share your views. I try to keep the neighborhood kids socially distant, my husband and their parents have less strict opinions of social distance. I did not want kids in the neighborhood on our trampoline. I did not want my daughter in my neighbor’s pool. But my husband decided it is the fourth, we can let the rules bend.

June 25 after waiting and waiting, my 17-year-old son and I had an appointment at the Secretary of State to get his driver’s license. We do school of choice so he didn’t have to change districts when we moved. It’s about 20 minutes each way. The amount of driving I do during the school year is absurd. Especially when there’s an extra meeting or some other event in the evening. So him being able to drive is a great advantage for me. The Secretary of State had strict guidelines in place. Appointment only. Masks are mandatory. I felt safe doing this errand. We walked into the mall and noticed a crowd around the door in an enclosed area waiting and no masks. We moved away from the crowd and waited for my son’s name to be called. He was even told to step back from the counter after submitting all the paperwork. They were by the CDC rules. We left with a licensed driver and exposure to Covid19.

People assume that the health department will tell you if you’ve been exposed. I would assume it too. If someone was there, wouldn’t they tell everyone who was there? No. They didn’t. I found out by seeing news online that the branch we attended was shut down due to covid19 exposure. The report was vague. It did not say an employee had contracted it. But, given the branch shut down, it seemed that way. The article also did not give a specific date for exposure. The Health Department did call it a low-risk exposure. I suspect the strict adherence to CDC guidelines made it low risk. But, I am high risk, immunosuppressed with an underlying heart condition. I emailed my doctor explaining the day I went in and that we were very careful. I found out exactly 14 days after exposure. 14 days. During that time my daughter had been allowed in the neighbor’s pool and kids had been on our trampoline. Two families would have been exposed if we’d caught it. Two families, even though I’m not going anywhere or doing anything. If I had been, who knows how many people I may have exposed before finding out.

The experience left me shaken and renewed my resolve to avoid being out as much as possible. If I had contracted covid19 and shared the disease with two families, I’d never be able to forgive myself. That is if I survived to worry about forgiveness. The idea that restrictions are lifting and we’re bored, plus we feel a little safer, is really a false sense of security. I think imagining you’ve been exposed and imagine those you may expose is still just as important as ever. I’m ready for this to be over. But it’s not. The strict guidelines probably protected me and for that I’m thankful. But now is not the time to let your guard down and pretend everything is okay.