COVID-19 – I am not part of the statistic, I think.

So, I am feeling sick. I don’t get sick often, and like many other men, I just tend to “tough it out”. Yes, I am stupid sometimes, I am sorry. At the moment, I have a cough, low grade fever, chills, am a furnace at night to my wife, and have dizzy spells. Sounds familiar, huh? So, I did the right thing and called my primary nurse which in turn transferred me to a COVID-19 hotline. I called this local hotline and despite showing all of the symptoms, there isn’t a test for me since I am not coughing up blood nor am I having severe shortness of breath. I truly feel for those that have gotten to that point and hope that their experience to get care is swift. Maybe I also don’t make the cut because I am 40 years old and am very healthy, which by their knowledge, I should get over this quickly like the flu (yes, I got the flu shot this year). I totally understand making sure that only those in need get the test and treatment, I support this 100%.

…unless you are just about to go to the emergency room, are part of the Utah Jazz, or are a celebrity, there isn’t a test for you and your case cannot be counted.

My issue is that we are basing this pandemic off of numbers both globally and locally which are underestimates of the reality. From my understanding, in United States, Georgia, or specifically to Dekalb County, unless you are just about to go to the emergency room, are part of the Utah Jazz, or are a celebrity, there isn’t a test for you and your case cannot be counted. This means it’s bigger than we think and larger than we are being told. I’ve read Italy and China’s statistics on their counts over the past couple of weeks, but now it hits home.

Here’s what I shared with the nurse over the phone:

1. My current symptoms (nothing severe)
   1. Cough
   2. Low grade fever
   3. Chills
   4. Mild sore throat
   5. Congested
   6. Furnace at night to my wife
   7. Dizzy spells
2. My verbal health record (clean as a whistle)

There were no questions about travel which is yes, both SF and LAX earlier this month. There were no questions about prior contacts, no travel checkpoints, nothing. It seemed a bit odd.

Here are my orders:

1. Confine myself to my house for the next 7 days
2. Self medicate with Tylenol, Mucinex, etc. as needed
3. Stay away from people (I live in a house with 3 humans, my family)
4. Use a separate bathroom if possible
5. Try to remain in a separate room than the rest of the family
6. Rest
7. Drink lots of water

I will be following these orders, yet given that our household consists of two working parents and two school aged children, staying away from my family is going to be difficult. While my wife needs to work, I take care of the kids and vice versa. I need to help my kids with math, history, art (my favorite), and science (my second favorite). Being a husband, parent, small business owner, and now elementary school teacher’s assistant, my time is thin and psychological capability to take on more is thinner. With all this swirling around, I still need to take care of myself. We are grateful that we’ve built a decent financial safety net, but are extremely concerned for those that haven’t.

Emergency Drinking Beer from Wild Heaven Brewery. Seemed appropriate given the circumstances. Unfortunately, I failed to buy it because I tried to purchase it after alcohol sales hours. Probably wouldn’t have consumed it anyway, just a novelty.