Omicron

Last Thursday, our daughter K came home with a runny nose. I thought of testing her for covid but put it off. As the evening progressed, she developed high temperature and climbed into our bed for comfort. On Friday morning, she tested positive. Protected by three Pfizer shots, we were negative. We chose to isolate. It would only be a matter of time that prolonged exposure to the highly virulent Omicron would render us positive. We just needed to make sure we were well stocked for a week. Luckily, all of that is possible in 2022.

We spent the next ten minutes informing close contacts. For O and me, it was just the nanny from the night before. All our work is online and we just meet our bubble every Sunday for pizza. We hadn’t seen her in a week. For K, it was school and a whole bunch of extracurricular groups. Omicron has been raging among these unvaccinated kids groups and infiltrating families. Messages asking people to test and isolate went out almost as soon as we informed our groups. K slept almost the entire day, waking up for nutrition, puffy and bedraggled when she did. When she coughed which fortunately wasn’t often, she sounded like a barking dog. O and I worked and felt energetic enough to cook, clean, and ventilate the apartment. I wore a mask most of the time.

Saturday was different. We continued to test negative but I woke feeling strange. I don’t know how else to describe it – my right eyelid had inexplicably swollen. I found no stye or insect bite. The lymph nodes on my neck were inflamed and I had sore muscles that had never ached before. O felt no better. We looked like wounded warriors. Our bodies are fighting, I thought, making my way crablike through what suddenly seemed to be an infinitely vast apartment. K laughed as I read her stories and entertained her with my mask on.

We tested positive on Sunday. By then, K was recovering and even though she hadn’t tested negative, her energy was certainly back. She was no longer barking, oops… coughing. Whoever said Omicron was mild, certainly had a very high threshold for severe.

We were worse on Monday. I messaged colleagues asking them to step in for me while O canceled the appointments in his diary. K bounced all over the apartment, turning every room into a baby gym. I turned the corner on Tuesday. All this time, I had slightly elevated temperature. On Tuesday, it was back to normal. I felt energetic enough to sit through my packed schedule. O who never had temperature, tested and found himself positive. We concluded it would take longer for the infection to pass. Meanwhile, the results for the covid-19 serological study that I am participating in, landed in my inbox. Barely a week had passed since I gave my sample. My body was swimming in vaccine induced antibodies, I was informed. Until Omicron struck, grumbled O. Luckily, we never lost our sense of smell or taste.

On Thursday, two and a half days after I had no symptoms, I decided to test. I was negative. Unfortunately, not O and K – shows the difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals (and the important age factor in fighting disease). Boosted with natural immunity, I marched off to the park for a walk, an unusual spring in my step.

It took a full seven days for O to finally test negative. Each day being sick set him back mentally. He felt exhausted in the knowledge that he was still positive. Yet, it was he who kept the household running, planning and cooking meals and snacks. When I tested negative, he was desperate to get better and take that walk in the park with me. Now that he has, we are off to enjoy the sun.

But before we go, here’s a deep bow to science that produced covid-19 vaccines in such a short time. Immunity and recovery is personal BUT there is no doubt that it was vaccination that took only a week off our lives. So please trust science and do not believe omicron to be mild. It isn’t. Don’t go out there seeking it; if you haven’t caught it so far, consider yourself very, very lucky. Stay safe.