Well this isn't ideal. Despite previous claims that I am, in fact, Unbreakable like Bruce Willis, Covid-19 has cut me down in my prime. I woke up last Monday with telltale Covid symptoms (chills, aches, sinus pressure, and a tiny bit of shame), so I asked Katie to bring me one of our at-home tests before she left for work. And it was of course positive. Due to Scotland's new Covid rules, this threw a few things immediately into action.
First, Katie could not go into work. As a close contact of someone who tested positive, she not only needed to get a test, she also was now instructed (doomed?) to self-isolate with her new sick ass husband. So needless to say, this flat was about to become a little petri dish of sickness and resentment.
Second, I tested positive (Katie was still negative at the time) on the home tests so the next step was to get a PCR test and Scotland gives you two options. You can either have one sent to you or you can make an appointment to walk in to a testing site (ours is only two blocks away). Both options are free. We opted for the former as I was essentially foaming at the mouth and was simultaneously shivering and sweating underneath a pile of blankets. Again, Katie is still negative at this point, so her recurring theme to Luna was that I had "brought a plague on both of our houses". Lot of finger pointing going on. Most of it at me.
I cannot stress how well how well Scotland handles these cases. We mentioned in a previous (and very well written) blog post about how Scotland has QR codes posted in almost every business used to help track and trace possible outbreaks. They also hand out a week's worth of Lateral Flow Tests for free at every pharmacy in the city, and if you can't make it to a store, they'll even ship them straight to you. Again, completely free - I believe we have almost 50 LFTs in our house from different sources this last week. In addition, anyone making under a certain amount of money every week has the ability to apply for a grant from Scotland to help recoup any lost wages due to Covid.
I self reported my initial positive reading to the Scottish Covid website and within 24 hours I received a phone call from a fantastic woman at Track and Trace. She took about 25 minutes of my time to walk through my last week of work/social activity to see where I was, who I saw, and how I possibly got it. She took down names and phone numbers of my Scottish friends (watch your back, American friends - you may have been replaced) that I may have infected so she could shoot them texts asking them to get tested. Each of them received a specific tracking code that linked to me so if they tested positive (they didn't) then Scotland could help track the same outbreak. The Chris Strain, if you will.
Symptomwise, I had all the hits I mentioned at the top, and I also lost my sense of smell/taste a few days in, but those have all diminished so I'm mostly just overly tired after a week. Katie tested positive with a PCR test after a few days so she was a few days behind me with similar symptoms, so she got to observe what to expect was coming. However, since she didn't immediately test positive, she had to quarantine when I first started showing symptoms AND continue through her own ten days of infectiousness, which means she is stuck at home through Christmas. Also her birthday.
So here we are. In our little flat. The three of us have been stuck for about a week with occasional grocery drop-offs, daily positive at-home tests, and only a few squabbles which are quickly ended with a tiny shot of whisky. And then a big shot of whisky. We won't let this thing beat us or ruin our holiday. So send us good vibes! And ideally more whisky.
Cheers,
Chris
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