I woke up Tuesday morning with the worst sore throat I can remember having. It was annoying, but the pain started to subside as I was in the middle of my morning routine. I pushed it aside and left for work.
On my drive to work, I usually listen to the morning news or talk to a friend on the phone. I was running late that morning, and my friend was already in her office where she has no cell service. The radio was irritating, so I entertained myself as I spent more time tapping the brakes than pressing the gas pedal.
By the time I arrived at work, I had a nagging feeling. My cousin is getting married this weekend, and my sister and nephew and I had planned a road trip together. The plan was to leave Thursday morning, drive up to Georgia to see our grandmother and then head over to South Carolina on Friday for the wedding.
That meant I would be seeing both of my 90+ year old grandmothers, plus family members with health concerns. A cold was frustrating, but the last thing I wanted to do was bring something worse to them. I work in several schools, and there's always something floating around in the air.
I drove right past the school and pulled into a parking lot where I pulled out my phone and starting searching for places to have a Covid test done. I found one place that offered rapid testing without an appointment. I called.
"Yes, we can do a test today. Walk up to the front door. Sign in. It's $140. Cash only."
Cash only was my only option. I needed to rule out Covid so I could go on my long-anticipated road trip with a clear conscience. So I drove the 35 miles to the clinic, signed in at the front door and walked back to my car.
After a 20 minute wait, a woman clad in scrubs, a mask and a face shield handed me a receipt and shoved a cotton swab up each nostril. I handed over the cash, rolled up the window and texted my sister.
"Fingers crossed that it's not Covid," she said.
"Me, too. I don't think it's Covid, but I want to be sure."
I rolled up a jacket to use as a pillow and dozed off. My sister texted me 20 minutes later asking about the results. That's when I realized that it was well past the 15 minutes they promised the test would take. So I called the office.
The woman who answered the phone asked for my name and then told me she had just finished processing the tests.
"It's positive," she said.
I vaguely remember what she said afterward. There was something about going home, resting and drinking plenty of fluids. I drove up to the front door, and someone came out to give me the results on paper.
That was it. I had contracted the coronavirus.
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