And On Day Four…I got COVID
It’s the beginning of the 21-22 school year. And this is the third school year that is going to be impacted by this virus and the lack of response from our local and state government.
Mid-July, I was overwhelmed with optimism. I was ready to be back on campus with our students. I was ready to take a cautious step forward.
The first three days of school were terrific. Exhausting, but terrific. We have an incredible group of students that are working so well together and we had all the feels. Important note: I say we because I am honored to serve alongside my two co-teachers. Yes. Two. There are three full-time teachers in a multi-age classroom with 30 students. It’s a dream job.
Then came day four. I got home at the end of day four and I was tired. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just really tired. Then I woke up on day five and take my temperature. Which, by the way, was a practice that I’ve done every day for the past 20 months. It was a full degree higher than it had been this whole time. Not over 100. But a full degree higher. I felt a little stuffy too.
So, out of an abundance of caution, this fully vaccinated, obsessive mask-wearing teacher called in sick and went to get a test. After four and half hours in the drive-through testing line, I drove home and waited for the call. Three hours go by—Nothing.
I had been isolating in my older daughter’s bedroom (she was at her mom’s house at the time) since I got home, and I just had to know. So, my wife went and bought a rapid test. I shoved another q-tip into my brain for the second time that day, and 15 minutes later, there it was.
COVID positive.
About 45 minutes later the drive-thru clinic called.
COVID positive.
Our school followed protocol. My class of 30 students and my two co-teachers (and my family) all went into quarantine. I went ahead and moved into my older daughter’s bedroom as a measure to try and keep my fully vaccinated wife and unvaccinated 4-year-old daughter safe. I spent 10 full days isolated in there. My wife brought me every meal so that I didn’t have to come out and put her or our daughter at risk.
They didn’t get sick. And I’ll never be able to fully thank her for the incredible feat my wife accomplished of holding down a full-time job, her Ph.D. work, and full-time solo mom.
The amount of incredible privilege we were afforded in this space is not lost on me. Not only did we have a physical space in our house for me to isolate for 10 days, but we also door dashed food, had groceries delivered, and I was able to keep working while this is happening so we didn’t have a lapse in income. The system has failed so many of our neighbors, colleagues, friends, and families in this. We feel so incredibly lucky that we were able to make it work. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard. It doesn’t mean that it was easy. It just means that our whiteness again afforded us more than others.
But, throughout this time, our class did begin remote learning. For the third school year in a row. And they were amazing. And brilliant. As expected.
What I can say for sure is that we all slipped back into the routine fairly easily. We had to level set expectations and participation norms. But, we got back into the routine—a routine that none of us hoped we would be participating in again.
I have more to say and write about with remote learning soon. But, I’m gonna leave it here for now.
Stay safe friends.