I hope you had a lovely weekend and a Happy Easter if you celebrate it. My weekend was fine though surreal. I’m getting used to living in a universe next to “normal”.
On Wednesday N contacted us. I think he called on the telephone. That ups the alert level in a way. He’d taken his twice weekly (or maybe it’s thrice, the rules change and the updates arrive after the rules have been applied.) Covid test and failed. This kid doesn’t usually fail tests so he was thrown off kilter. Per the college rules as we knew them he was to leave campus and return home since travel via public transportation wasn’t necessary. We picked him up and had him home before the school could email us their new rules for quarantine (aka: we have so many test failures that we can’t house everyone individually so you’re on your own and we can’t feed you all so here’s UberEats vouchers. N was disappointed to miss out on those since those who traveled home were on their own for food. I think the pizza we ordered served as a fair consolation prize.
After years of playing nurse to my children I know what them being sick looks like. Both children have allergies so I’m familiar with that too. If it’s April N is suffering from his usual maple pollen allergy: most pronounced symptom is a cough. So having failed the Covid test I expected to see something, anything additional to the normal for April cough. Nothing. No fever, no runny nose, no headache. Just the usual April cough.
The email from the school included the instructions to do nothing until you hear from us again on day 5 with further instructions. And do not contact us. His one class was canceled on Thursday because more than half the class was on the failure list. He consoled himself with video games.
Yesterday aka day 5 arrived and the instructions were to come back to the school and test. If you pass you may return on day 6. If you fail you may return on day 12, no test required. In a not Easter miracle N passed his test and will return to school later today.
While our expected Easter weekend was turned upside down we made the most of what we were given. And in this universe that’s adjacent to “normal” that’s the best we can do.