I Got COVID and Was Put in Isolation, Here's How It Went

Well, you read the title. I promise you this was definitely not my most shining moment but yes, I got COVID and it was genuinely the worst week of my life. It started out last Tuesday when I wasn’t feeling well. I woke up feeling drained and achy but thought nothing of it because I hadn’t gotten the best night’s sleep the night before and figured it was just because of that. I went to my first class and took notes like normal and then decided to skip my second class that day and go home to get some rest. After a two-hour nap, I woke up feeling so much better but still not my best. After talking to my mom, I decided to make an appointment at the local CVS MinuteClinic to get checked out. My roommate Sarah had tested positive for the flu a few days prior, as did my friend Ava. I had figured it was just that considering I had been around both of them the past couple of days. I also had very minimal symptoms and I thought because I got my flu shot, it was just a mild case.

The earliest I could get an appointment was two days later on Thursday so I decided to quarantine in my room until then as to not expose my other roommate, Ava, who was feeling fine. I also didn’t go to class on Wednesday just to be safe and thank God I did. My symptoms at this point were really not bad at all. The only thing I really had to complain about was an extremely congested nose. No cough, no sore throat, no fever, no loss of taste, and no shortness of breath.

When Thursday finally came, I drove myself 30 minutes to the only minute clinic in Rhode Island that would give me an appointment ready to be told I had the flu. Even though my symptoms were light, there was no other possible explanation as to what could be wrong with me… or so I thought. The doctor called me into the room and did the basic rundown of how I was feeling, took my temperature (which was still normal), and told me she was going to test me for COVID and the flu at the same time. One thing that I thought was very weird was that when she took my heart rate, it was around 100 BPM (spoiler alert: it wasn’t because I was anxious). The doctor seemed concerned about this but I told her it was just because I get nervous about things like these and she continued on. Ten minutes later both tests beeped and she looks at both of them and then looks at me and says

“Well you’re negative for the flu, but positive for COVID.”

Yeah turns out my heart rate was so high because I had the virus that caused the world to shut down. When I tell you my stomach dropped to my feet, I’m not exaggerating. At that moment the only thing I could think about was how many people I had accidentally exposed and put at risk. I felt so guilty about seeing my friends the weekend before even though, at the time, nothing warranted me to think I was sick. At this point, I was in the denial stage and truly thought this was a false positive even though those are extremely rare. Once I was free to leave the MinuteClinic, I went to my car and called my mom and then my roommates in hysterics and told them I was going to get another rapid and PCR test and then lock myself in my bedroom for the next ten days.

Later that night I get a call from my university and find out that both my rapid and PCR test came back positive and I basically began to spiral. I am an extrovert meaning I get most of my energy from talking to and being around other people so ten days of isolation is like a death sentence to me. The good thing was that my school told me since I lived off-campus, I could stay quarantined in my bedroom and have my roommates bring me whatever I needed. This was perfect for me. I could chill in my room and not have to worry about much while having all of the necessary medication, clothing, and food for the next ten days. I was finally feeling okay about the whole situation.

That was until the next day when I get a call from Health Services saying I was given the wrong information and actually can’t stay in my house off-campus because I’m too big of a risk to my other roommates. They gave me two options. I could either go home or go to a hotel that the school rents out and pay $62 a night. This sent me into another spiral because my mom and dad had just gotten off of a plane in Nashville and my grandparents were at my house with my dog and brother. Obviously, I couldn’t go home and expose them to COVID so that meant that my only option was to pack a bag, drive myself to a hotel and stay in an unfamiliar room for ten days while my meals got delivered to me. Luckily I was able to talk to someone to get the $62/night fee waived but the drive over to that hotel was the most dread I have ever felt in my entire life.

I will admit that the first night I was at the hotel was fun. I got to look through the bag of snacks they provided me, explore the room, and get my things set up for the night. The hotel consisted of a king-sized bed, a T.V., a couch, a mini end table, a microwave, and a mini-fridge. But once the second day came around, the novelty of being in a new place wore off and I was back to being miserable. The only way I can describe my stay at the hotel as was like the movie Groundhog Day. It was like I was living the same day over and over again. My schedule was as follows:

1. Wake up

2. Stay in bed until noon (to make the day go by quicker)

3. Shower

4. Make my bed (to have some form of chores to do)

5. Hear the knock at my door and pick up my meals for the day

6. Eat breakfast on the couch and sit there for the rest of the day doing work

7. Talk to the nurse who would check on me once a day

8. Move from the couch back to the bed

9. Watch an episode of T.V.

10. Go to bed and wake up to do the same thing again the next day

It was torture. I’m sure you can tell based on my previous posts but I’m someone who likes adventure and excitement. And that is not what the hotel was. But besides that, I was just so lonely. If I’m being completely transparent, I think cried at least once a day because I just wanted to see people so badly. My mental health took a major decline, there was no other way to describe how I felt other than just sad and alone. The worst part was that by day three, I had no symptoms other than loss of smell. I felt so healthy it was like I should be able to just go out into the world and exist normally but I knew I couldn’t. I feel like people really can’t grasp how hard isolation is unless you experience it. I definitely underestimated just how lonely it is and applaud anyone and everyone who has had to also experience this.

Moving onto the meals that they gave me. Those sucked equally as much as the hotel stay. The lunches weren’t that bad because they were just sandwiches but I think the only good dinner I got was stuffed shells with a salad and garlic bread. The rest were quite sketchy and not very good. I mostly just ate PB&J’s and soup for dinner. I’m very fortunate that my mom drove all the way from Massachusetts to Rhode Island to drop off food for me so I would not starve to death (thanks again mom, I appreciate you). I also am lucky enough to have fantastic friends and roommates who would bring me coffee, snacks, gummy bears, and even Benadryl when I had a skin reaction to my skincare. Friends if you’re reading, thank you for being so supportive about my time in COVID jail and constantly offering to bring me whatever I needed.

Even though I’m out and no longer contagious, I can still feel the lingering after-effects from COVID. For example, I still can’t smell, and it’s honestly so upsetting. Last night I was heating up pasta sauce and burnt the entire bottom of the pan because I couldn’t smell that it was burning. Sarah and I also went to Target and stopped in the candle section and it was probably the most pointless aisle I possibly could have gone down. I had to take Sarah’s word that the candle she picked out for the house was a nice scent. I also have found that I get out of breath so easily. Even just walking across campus makes me so winded I have to pause for a second before I go into the building to catch my breath.

I also think I need to talk about the after-effect isolation had on my mental health. Every single day I was in that hotel room I was so excited to get back out into the world and see people and go to stores and classes and restaurants. But after a week of not seeing anybody except through a window, going out in public was extremely overwhelming. I kept thinking I was doing something wrong by being out and it made me so anxious to even go to a restaurant because of the sheer amount of people there. I had my first day back from classes today and even sitting in class I started to get anxious about the number of people. I know this feeling is going to go away and I’m going to get back to my old self, but just remember that if you are in a similar situation, your feelings are completely valid and natural.

All in all, I think that this was definitely a learning experience I never want to do again. I found ways to entertain myself and learned how to be comfortable completely alone, but I also think for me, I’m always going to want to be around people. Even when it comes to strangers, I love making random conversations and meeting new people, and not getting to do that for a whole week definitely took its toll. While I will definitely take the experience with me in the future, I hope and pray I never have to do it again.

Hope you all have a lovely week!

- Meg

P.s. This is the only photo I took in the hotel. It’s a picture of me sitting on the couch listening to Red the night before Taylor’s Version came out that I sent to my mom. Enjoy!