My Experience With Covid-19

Photo of a man sick in bed.

I remember January 1st, 2020. I was living in Vallejo. People were still blowing up leftover fireworks. I listened to the explosions and thought about how everything in life was reduced to repetition. Nothing ever seemed to change. I was bored but ultimately stagnant. 

A few weeks later, I first heard about COVID-19 on the news and I didn’t think anything of it. I was focused on working my job, making memes and trying to be a writer. I didn’t care that a virus linked to a vague outbreak in China had come to America or that someone in Washington state had been diagnosed with COVID. I didn’t live in Washington state, it still didn’t matter to me. As time went on, the media started talking about it more and more. The news coverage was reminiscent of the Swine Flu back in 2009. I honestly believed COVID-19 was an overblown fear mongering campaign.

I didn’t care that a virus linked to a vague outbreak in China had come to America or that someone in Washington state had been diagnosed with COVID. I didn’t live in Washington state, it still didn’t matter to me.

At the beginning of the pandemic I was a contact center representative at Travis Credit Union, which was headquartered less than 10 miles from Travis Airforce Base in Fairfield. The credit union was started for people in the Airforce, but then slowly began to allow anyone who lived within a certain counties to join. However, the credit union maintained a close relationship with the base.

I was driving home from work when I first heard about the Grand Princess: a luxury cruise ship that had several COVID-positive passengers aboard. The ship was trying to port in San Francisco. A week or so later, I found out that passengers who tested positive would be held at Travis Airforce Base. I didn’t have any family members who were actively in the military, but many of the coworkers did and they were concerned about their loved ones getting sick. 

And that’s when things began to change. 

Suddenly everyone in the office was told to stand 6 feet apart, although masks were still optional at this point. Not long after that, masks weren’t optional and businesses started to close. Gavin Newsom got on TV and said the entire state was going to be quarantined for 2 weeks. I still have no idea how the fuck you could even quarantine an entire state. I didn’t think the quarantine would last, but it went on for an entire year. 

The pandemic has now raged on for nearly 3 years. In those 3 years, my life has changed dramatically in ways that I don’t think would’ve been possible had it not been for the pandemic. I moved 5 times in 3 years. I work from home and I live in San Francisco. If you told me on January 1st, 2020 that I would be a resident of San Francisco or any of the other crazy shit that ended up happening in such a short period of time, I would have laughed in your face. 

As I write this, I’m currently positive with COVID. The worst of it’s over I think, and all I have left is a headache and a cough. This is the second time I’ve had it. The first time I was barely sick. It was basically just a sniffle and minor fatigue. This time, it’s real COVID, the COVID where you feel like complete shit. And for a few days, I felt like complete shit.

But even though I don’t necessarily feel great, and it’s because I have CoronaVirus, at least I learned that things can change. 

Because they did… For all of us.

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