You’ve been ever so careful for 17 months, avoided this virulent disease through social distancing, mask wearing and hand washing .. and then you don’t feel well.
We’ve been conditioned to fear it, avoid it and protect against it.
I’ve been taking regular lateral flow tests to ensure that I am not inadvertently spreading COVID to the people I care about. It’s something my wife and I have been happy to do and so have many of our friends.
In fact we planned a week in London to be with our grandson on his birthday, so took tests before leaving.
I collected and dropped off our grandsons at nursery and during our time there, friends and family were round to celebrate too in the garden.
My eldest grandson was told to self isolate because his teacher had COVID so we headed home.
And then I started feeling nauseous, generally unwell.
I developed a temperature. I took a lateral flow test and the results confirmed I had COVID-19.
I booked a PCR test at a drive through but results took three days before confirming I had COVID.
I had to register my test result and advise through the app where I had been, who I may have come into contact with, etc.
My wife was fine initially, but tested positive five days later.
We’ve both been double vaccinated. Mine was Astra Zeneca whilst my wife’s was Pfizer.
My son in law also tested positive, but everyone else in that family was clear.
Because we can’t see it, we think we are unlikely to get it, carry it, or for that matter be with anyone else that has it, basically we live in a pure fantasy.
The shocking truth is that people around us would prefer not to take lateral flow tests. Not because they can’t, but because if the results are positive they don’t want to have to isolate.
You can’t totally avoid it, but perhaps the most responsible thing to do is to check yourself regularly so that you can be certain that you, your family and friends are not left wondering later on, how did you get it?
