Managed to dodge it for nearly four years. I still wear masks anytime I’m outside other than for neighborhood walks, and anytime I go into a store, etc. I managed to fly several times (SEA-SAN, SEA-ABQ, and SEA-ORD) and even attended a con without catching it. Despite the PNW looking better than other places for the holidays this year, I guess it was inevitable that at some point it’d happen.
The timeline as best I can pin it down looks like this;
Housemate came back from a trip on Wednesday, December 20th, and both my housemates went out to dinner that night.
As of the evening of Friday the 22nd everyone was testing negative. I didn’t have any symptoms or fever, and went out to a local house party. I wore a mask all night and only ate outside as I pretty much have at gatherings for about the last year, but that certainly doesn’t guarantee anything.
The next day, Saturday the 23rd, both of my housemates tested positive, and I tested negative. I tried to isolate more strictly on the off chance I could dodge it again, but I was probably just a day behind in developing symptoms at that point. They both went to the urgent care and got Paxlovid scrips Saturday night.
Then on Sunday the 24th, I started to develop a light fever and tested positive, and got a telehealth prescription for Molnupiravir and picked it up Christmas eve.
As of today my household seems to be doing okay. I feel like crap and am dealing with fever/congestion/aches, and my housemates seem to be doing okay if a bit uncomfortable.
Despite aiming to be graceful with others and reminding myself that this whole pandemic has been, on a broader level, a systematic failure, and that most people I know have always done their best and acted with caution, and that an opportunistic infectious disease spreading is not the fault of well intentioned folks, I find it hard to treat myself with that kindness and haven’t taken it very well.
I’m usually a hardy sort when it comes to getting sick. While I am afraid of long term complications from Covid (I have enough mental health problems and dementia risk factors, thanks) I’ve never really worried for myself and focused on preventing harm to others around me, and it really hurts to feel like I failed to do everything I could to mitigate that risk.