And Covid Strikes

Last week started off with a sore throat, which metamorphosed overnight into a full-fledged fever and body ache. I quarantined myself in the master bedroom, leaving the other three members (and dog) of the family to sort themselves as best as possible in the remaining one and a half bedrooms.

I slept off most of that first day as I hadn’t been sleeping well for the past few days. When fever persisted in the night, I reluctantly admitted the possibility of it being Covid and booked an RT-PCR test for the next day.

When I woke up next morning, the fever had receded to 99.5, and this made me more optimistic. The RT-PCR guy came, took samples and left but I felt we had been hasty in calling him. My immunity does tend to fall whenever I go without proper sleep for three or more days. So this was probably ‘normal’ cough and cold. After all, I was fully vaccinated and had stayed home for the last two weeks. My son, who had come back from college after the briefest of stints (his college having resumed offline classes and then suspending them, all within three days) had tested negative just two days back. I continued my rest and quarantine, but my family felt reasonably sure that the report would come back negative.

Well, it didn’t. So I have been in quarantine for the last six days now. Ironically, the fever had gone away completely by the time the report came and I just have a little cough remaining. My mom joined me the day after I tested positive. She was showing all the symptoms and was in fact worse off than me. A 2.5BHK flat doesn’t really give you the luxury of isolating each person in a different room.

I must say quarantine sucks, especially when you are feeling more or less fine. Initially, I liked the time off from work. I took much needed rest for the first two days, with a vague idea that once I felt better I could spend the time reading, watching TV, and catch up on a few hobbies. But somehow these leisure activities are more enjoyable when you are carving out an hour or two for them from an otherwise busy day; they lose their charm when spread over an entire day, with more similar days in the offing. In any case, I was having visions of work piling up as we are in the middle of a release. So on Friday, I resumed working from home, or rather my room, for a few hours just so that Monday morning becomes a little less daunting.

Tomorrow, I’ll complete a week in isolation in my room. Looking forward to visiting the rest of the house!