Everything Was Fine.
Dylan was back at college for less than one day before he was exposed to COVID.
Nashville – one of the current places raging with the virus that still allows indoor dining and bar hopping – was not at fault.
Instead, Dylan decided – along with his friends – to create a “pod.” There were four of them who hung out together last year, and they’d all tested negative before arriving on campus.
So they got together indoors, mask-free, and determined that they would be the only ones for whom they would remove their masks. Two of them had single apartments, and Dylan and his roommate would be living together, so keeping that promise was easy.
They hung out for about an hour, in one of the girls’ apartments. Dylan and his girlfriend sat together; Dylan’s roommate sat on the sofa next to the other girl. They talked for about an hour.
Everyone and everything was fine. Or so they thought.
Two days later, the girl on the couch got sick and tested positive. Then Dylan’s roommate got sick, and also tested positive. It was that fast.
Dylan and his girlfriend were sitting across the room during their visit. They were maybe six feet away, and un-masked. They didn’t hug “Patient Zero,” but they didn’t take any extra precautions, either.
Dylan and his girlfriend quarantined in an off-campus apartment for a week after the initial visit. The college wouldn’t allow them to get a COVID test for a full week, since they weren’t showing symptoms.
They all attended their first week of classes online.
Both virus-infected students were sent into isolation. They both said the isolation was worse than the illness. Thankfully, they are both recovering.
Dylan and his girlfriend tested negative yesterday.
There is no visitation in the dorms, so many of the students have off-campus apartments. Parents seem to think this would keep them from being lonely, since their friends can visit at any time. (And they can!)
But the non-residential students are more likely to get COVID, partially – if not fully – because they have no restrictions on visitation. And they do things like – gosh – visiting one another, believing it’s safe….
It’s just not safe.
I wonder when it will ever be safe again.