When New Years of 2021 rolled around, I realized that we managed to go through the first year of the pandemic unscathed. Then just before we could breathe a sigh of relief, Covid-19 came for a visit. One member of the family had indicated they were experiencing symptoms of Covid-19, tested positive the rest tested found two were positive, but thanks to God two were not.
We follow the news updates about Covid-19on tv, radio and in almost all the spaces we find ourselves in. We hear about the number of deaths and hospitalizations. Loved ones unable to visit their families in hospitals or attend funerals to celebrate and honor loved ones. The memories of separation in a pandemic compound the unbearable feeling of permanent separation from the dead whom we never got to hold or see. Recommendations to stand six feet apart during the burial don’t bring us closer together as before we could huddle, lean on and support one another to grieve.
It was a scary moment in the family. The information I gathered from the family on how the fourteen days seem very helpful.
The five members of the family quarantine-each in their own bedroom, the negative ones stayed in the first level in the living room, and one in the sitting room. The victims took medication, check the temperature. It was a restrictive place, going to use bathroom, shower, going outside bedroom to pick food from the table set on the second level hallway and back to the bedroom
The two family members of the family served the sick one. It was a very challenging task walking up and down stairs uncounted number of walks from the kitchen to bedroom upstairs uncounted numbers of a walks.
A table was set in the hallway, meal served and the servers leave the hallway. Each sick person wore gloves and a mask, picked a plate of the meal, and went back to the bedroom. And they wore gloves and a mask. There was a dustbin in each room to discard used cutlery-paper plates, plastic cups, forks, spoons, mask, and groves to reduce spread of virus no dishwashing is done. Each room had a trashcan when full was tied at the top and thrown into a large trash can in the hallway. There was a lot of washing of hands, door handles, serving table, and other surfaces. The two not sick picked ordered medicine from the pharmacy and groceries delivered from inside store by workers to the customer waiting at the store parking lot into the car’s open boot. They stayed in the parking lot and opened the car boot for medicine and groceries put in. The staff dropped medicine and groceries in the car boot to keep distance and to avoid any contact with store staff.
The communication in the house was through the zoom to see each other’s face and smile or mood and the healing progress. The fourteen days are over and everyone well and the two members who tested negative waiting to have a Covid-19 vaccine got shots.
It was a terrible experience full of great fear of the outcome and darkness at the end of the tunnel. The victims became well after fourteen days and everyone went back to the daily routine. Thanks to the Almighty.
The three victims testimonies. The collective account of the experience of these three Covid-19 victims was as follows,
“Having COVID-19 felt familiarly strange. There is only so much that you can see and hear from the news and other victims. Most symptoms like cough, fatigue, fever, and headache are common and are treated quickly. But there are others like loss of taste or smell, difficulty breathing, chest pain that are the worst of the virus. Thankfully, we weren’t hit with any of the life-threatening ones. One thing covid is that it affects every victim differently. Some start with just a cold feeling and others start with full-blown nausea, vomiting, and other gastrointestinal issues. That was the most unusual about this virus. The order and intensity of the symptoms were completely random and unexpected. You never know what new or extinct symptom(s) you’d wake up to the next day. Among the frightening parts of this virus, infection, re-infection, and sanitation were the most challenging and scary to handle. We were wearing masks and gloves at any time/where outside the quarantine area, disinfecting every single object and room touched, plus no close verbal communication. It almost felt like another symptom in itself. Of course, we couldn’t see this virus other than its impact on our bodies. So, remaining cautious and acting critical was vital in keeping others safe and with the intent to return to regular life.
All in all, COVID-19 has many lessons learned. Being knowledgeable about the symptoms and their works and being equipped to handle this virus is essential. Some individuals and families don’t have that blessing to keep strong when hit with covid, so it’s up to the fortunate to be accountable and to stay safe to keep others safe.”