Bitter Reality: Isolation due to COVID 19
This time, my office is open – a full-time in-person office. As the Omicron variant has started being the dominant and at the brink of causing another surge of COVID, I was almost certain that everybody might get sick this time. Although we are instructed to maintain recommended health measures strictly, some of my colleagues were found fatigued from wearing masks while sitting at his/her desk. Talking to them, I came to know that they do not think sitting in their cubicle will require wearing masks as they think the walls of the cubicle act as a protective shield.
Well, nowadays, this has been a common picture everywhere in the country. And, I do not blame them. The whole world, irrespective of the level of development, economic status, and geographic location, pandemic fatigue has caused reluctance in maintaining health measures.
As anticipated, the cases in Dhaka started increasing in the last 2 weeks. My office has also been experiencing an increase in the number of staff being tested positive.
I tested positive on January 14, 2022. It was Friday. On Thursday, I was in the office and doing fine till the afternoon. At around 3 pm, I started feeling tired, malaise, and feverish – I left the office early. By the time I reached home, I started feeling that I will be collapsing. Without making any delays, I called our staff clinic and got an appointment the next day for the test.
Not waiting for the test results, I went to isolation on Thursday evening. It was not something new for me as I was tested positive earlier in March 2021. Thankfully, my wife was tested negative like the previous time. This was a great relief as there needs to have someone to take care of our 6-year-old kid, prepare meals, and manage other household chores.
What I hate the most is not being sick, but being isolated from the family. Thanks to the social media platforms which allow doing video chat with your loved ones while staying separate. And, this time it was more demanding because of our upcoming 9th marriage anniversary on 17th January. We planned a lot of things doing together this time, but unfortunately, COVID-19 was against us. This time I was more worried as my older-aged mother having co-morbidities was staying with us. I lost my father in 2018, and now she is the only one who keeps us breathing and smiling in absence of him.
I took our staff-clinic-prescribed medication. However, in this situation, I think it is more important to have proper caregiving which my wife is the best at doing it. She managed the situation single-handed but efficiently. I did not get very sick this time – only soar throat, mild cough, and moderate body ache. However, I felt drowsy and tired significantly. With my wife’s proper care and medication, I started recovering on the 3rd day.
On the 17 January morning, I was waiting for a surprise from my surprise-giving queen. She prepared a nice breakfast with my favorite items. When I opened the door, she gave me a red rose with her precious smile and then the breakfast tray. What a lovely morning it was although I was in the middle of my isolation period. We had lots of fun and happiness from a distance but close to heart.
