There’s COVID in the house, but even so, it’s hard to tell. Last week, after Anders got back from his ski trip with Karin (she stayed up north at a different ski resort with her girlfriend), his friend & colleague who had been skiing with him called on Wednesday morning to tell Anders that he wasn’t feeling well, had gone to get a PCR fast-result test and was positive. So, Anders came home from work at 10, and then at lunchtime HE went to get a PCR fast-result test. Later that afternoon, they called with the results: positive.
EEEE
Two of my teammates were down with COVID over the last week, and my manager ALSO tested positive on Wednesday. She was really sick, as were both my teammates. Anders, however, had no symptoms. His friend Niklas had cold symptoms, but nothing severe and was feeling better by Friday. Martin was supposed to work Thursday, so we went and got HIM a fast-result test, too: negative. He had another one on Friday as he was supposed to work Saturday and Sunday: still negative. I have had no symptoms either. So, either it was a false positive, or we were all asymptomatic, or Anders didn’t infect either of us because his case was so mild?
WHO KNOWS.
I canceled all my plans for the end of last week just in case, which originally included going into the office on Friday, going to an AIC lunch, and having dinner with Debbie and Camilla. We decided at least 5 days quarantine should see us through. Here we are on day 5: still symptom-free. I am still going to work from home THIS week, but if we are all still symptom-free, then I have all those same plans for this coming Friday: going to the office, an AIC lunch (which was postponed a week due to this) and dinner and a concert with Camilla (Debbie is busy, unfortunately). Anders has to work from home until Tuesday, as Tetra Pak requires 7 days, though he doesn’t have to test again if he doesn’t have any symptoms.
It’s so weird that symptoms are so different from person to person. I haven’t taken a test, because I figured IF I got sick this week, then it was COVID. And if I DIDN’T get sick, then either I still actually HAD it, but was asymptomatic or I didn’t get it. I didn’t think paying 100 dollars for a test to tell me I was negative was worth the money.
I’m very glad that Anders didn’t/hasn’t gotten sick, and that neither Martin nor I have either, but I don’t know how I feel about not knowing. In the end, I suppose, it doesn’t really matter, since having it once doesn’t preclude getting it again anyway. Sweden has dropped nearly all of its pandemic restrictions, and I suspect many other countries will be following that precedent in the coming months. As always with the past 2 years of this, I guess all we can do is wait and see.
In other bummer news, Anders discovered a major wrench in the works in regards to his plans for his big birthday trip in early May. The boat that would take us from Kilpisjärvi up the edge of the lake and nature reserve where the 3 countries (Norway is the other one) come together doesn’t run until June because there is still ice on the lake at that point and there is no other way to get there apart from walking 11 kilometers in uncertain winter conditions. He’s debating what to do, but I will leave it up to him since this is his birthday trip. Neither one of us had been considering that WINTER would be a problem…we had more been concerned that there wouldn’t be charging stations where we would need them.
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, but we have no plans. I’ve bought some candy for the family but since we can’t go anywhere I am not expecting much. Karin is coming for dinner on Tuesday and Martin switched his shift so he can be home, so that is enough of a celebration for me.