Quarantine Diaries

By: Liv Canova

Last Saturday I went to my dad’s house and on Monday, I found out that someone in his office had Covid-19. I got the call on my way to work, so for the second time in 2 weeks I had to call out, drive home, and enter quarantine in my room.

The rest of my family at my moms house doesn’t spend time with my dad, so I was the only person in my house confined to my room and forced to wear a mask anywhere else in the house. 

Day 1-- Monday 11/16:

Just 3 days ago I received news that my Covid-19 test was negative, meaning I could be freed from my 4 day quarantine after being exposed to someone at school. But now here I am, stuck back in my room and I am not very happy. I had to call out of work, which I feel really bad about because that means I’m leaving my coworkers (who are generally new) to their own devices. There is a chance that my dad will test negative, which means that I could be out of here by tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

Day 2 -- Tuesday 11/17:

Afternoon: I’m not allowed into the kitchen, so my mom has to leave a tray of food outside of my door to tide me over until dinner, which is around 7 pm each night. Today was pretty normal school-wise because I only got a day and a half of in-person school before being moved to fully virtual learning. At least I have a little bit more time to do homework and apply to colleges.

I’m missing my last marching band rehearsal ever today, so that's a bit sad.

Night: My fears have been confirmed -- my dad has tested positive. That means that both my younger brother (now at his mom’s house) and I have been in direct contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19 without masks on. Really no bueno for me. And, I can’t even get tested right away because it takes around 5 days after exposure for the virus to present itself in your body. I watch 2 movies back to back to distract myself from worrying about getting tested.

Day 3 -- Wednesday 11/18: 

Afternoon- Today has not been great. I missed my first 3 classes of the day, only going to music theory. I am extremely bored, I’ve refreshed my Instagram and TikTok feeds probably at least 10 times each.

Night: The only thing to get me out of my slump today are after school choirs. Each time we meet virtually for Shacappella (the school's a cappella group), we have a theme. Today was hat day, and seeing everyones funny hats lifted my mood.

Day 4 -- Thursday 11/19:

Afternoon- In order to try and schedule a Covid-19 test, I had to call a testing center as soon as they opened, as many times as it would take for them to answer my call. It took 27 calls to get a next day appointment. I was really hoping that I would be able to get a rapid test, but I don’t think that it’s going to happen.

Night- The upside to having all this free time is that I have been able to finish all of my college applications. By November 19! Come on that’s pretty good.

Day 5 -- Friday 11/20:

Morning- Fridays have the whole 30 mins per class schedule, which means that I am going to miss even more classes for my 10 am coronavirus test. I don’t have any symptoms, so the center lets me sit in the waiting room and I listen to them tell at least 20 people on the phone that they will have to call back in the morning for a Covid test because they have such a booked schedule for the next 2 days.

I was not a fan of the test the first time I got it, and I was not a fan of it the second time, but at least the man doing it was nice and asked me about college.

Night- to my dismay, the test was not a rapid one, and the results will take even longer than last time to get back to me-- 3 days. I have to miss my last marching band performance and watch it on the livestream instead. I make my friend pull me up on facetime for the 4th quarter so I can at least say hi to all of the friends I haven’t seen for 2 weeks. 

I have decided to watch the entirety of the Waco documentary in one night, consuming almost 6 hours of ~cult~ and screwing up my sleep schedule so bad that I get only 2 hours of sleep.

from: IMDb

Day 6 -- Saturday 11/21:

I have done absolutely nothing today

Day 7 -- Sunday 11/22:

Again, nothing. As it turns out, I was supposed to enter my information into the testing result portal as soon as I got tested. I did not, and now it will take them 48 hours to process my request, meaning that I will possibly have to wait another day and a half for my results to come back

Day 8 -- Monday 11/23:

Morning: I was reaaallllyy hoping that my results come back today before the end of school so I don’t have to call out to work again. But alas, 1:10 comes and goes and I am forced to call out for the 3rd Monday in a row.

3:30 pm: I just got the call that I was negative!