Positive!

     When I booked our Caribbean cruise in November of last year, the Omicron variant of Covid had barely been discovered. My wife and I both had beeen vaccinated and boosted. Besides that, all passengers boarding our Holland-America vessel would need to show a negative Covid test. I felt we were safe when we boarded at the beginning of this month despite the recent warning of the Centers for Disease Control that cruise ship travel had become particularly risky.

    But on the tail-end of our 11-day cruise I began to feel ill. It felt like the garden variety of cold I usually get with headache, sore throat and cough. Since we were so close to the end of our sea journey, I decided just to stay in my cabin and take Tylenol.

    We were happy then to disembark in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and begin the long drive home to Michigan. I had a hotel reservation near the Florida-Georgia border, not wanting to go any farther since winter storm Izzy had been pummeling the region the past couple days.

    Checking in, I handed over my identification and credit card as the desk clerk dutifully handed me the registration form. “Initial here and here, then sign here,” she said.

    “What do I initial here for?” I asked.

    “That you don't have Covid,” she responded matter-of-factly.

    Ummm, I thought maybe that they wanted me to initial that I wouldn't smoke or try to smuggle a dog or cat into my room. I did not anticipate them asking for my Covid status.

    “What if I don't know my Covid status?” I asked. She responded that I could initial it if I don't have Covid symptoms. Hmmmm, well the classic Covid symptoms are loss of sense of taste or smell, fatigue and a dry cough. I didn't have those. Still, I asked if there were some place local I could get tested.

    There was! And I could make an appointment for later that day. Using the map feature on our cell phone we found the sprawling athletic complex where the testing site was located. We passed by several athletic fields and school buildings with cars parked and people nearby but couldn't locate any obvious testing facility. Then Wendy spotted a cardboard sign stuck into the ground which seemed to point the way to “Covid Test.”

    It was just a small dirt track that dead-ended at what looked like an abandoned football field with a couple decrepit looking outbuildings. No cars, no people. “This looks like the place where some guy is going to pop out with a chain saw,” Wendy observed.

    We drove back down the road we'd just driven in on and then spotted a sign lying on the ground that pointed us in the right direction. It turned out that a windstorm earlier had played havoc with the signage, twisting some while flattening others completely.

    The road led us to a ranch style house. We could see a tent and table with the testing outfit Curative emblazoned atop the tent. But still no people or cars. I parked in the turn-around and was just about to exit the vehicle when two young people charged out of the house, test kits in hand. Obviously, their intent was to intercept me before I could approach the house.

    So we sat in the car as we did the test ourselves. By the way, every time we've been tested regardless of the testing entity, we've ended up doing the swab ourselves. Anyhoo, bottom line: we got tested. Results in 72 hours.

    We received a text message on our cell phone at 5 a.m two days later, still not home yet. It was positive for both of us. That surprised my wife who was experiencing zero symptoms. We booked it out of that hotel, myself lamenting that I was passing up the hotel's complimentary biscuits and gravy breakfast, my favorite. Checking out, I noticed that the desk staff wasn't wearing any masks. I was however. Should I tell? They didn't have me initial any box saying I didn't have Covid at this hotel. We just left.

    That was almost a week ago. Wendy has since tested negative. I was still positive as of yesterday. Home test, saliva test, drive-through rapid antigent tests all were positive. Depressing. My mother reminded me that whenever my siblings and I came down with some infectious disease as children, whether it was chicken pox or the mumps, I always got it worst.

    I think she was trying to make me feel better. I'd rather have a negative test.