What Happens When a Family Member Gets COVID?

A few days after returning home from a family vacation, my dad started to feel ill. His throat was itchy, and he had a slight fever. I immediately grabbed a mask and told him to take a covid test. Unfortunately, it came back positive. I told him to test again, and it was still positive. He then went to the nearest urgent care and got tested for the third time. The rapid test came back positive too. It would be a couple of days before the PCR results, but we knew it was positive.

Panic set in about getting sick

I started to panic. I had dodged COVID for over 2 years now. But, I was just with my dad on this family vacation where we shared a hotel room. Ate multiple meals, all without wearing a mask. All of these thoughts were running through my head. I decided to take a test, and I was negative. My mom, sister, niece, and husband also tested negative. We were relieved about that but still told ourselves that we would test again in a few days. We began to wipe down the entire house with Clorox wipes. We were spraying Lysol, trying to disinfect anything we could.

My dad had to quarantine

My dad would have to quarantine until he was better. We told him he could only leave his room for the bathroom. Thankfully there were multiple bathrooms in the house, so we wouldn’t have to share with my dad. All meals would be brought to him, and we would leave them by his door. We only used paper plates and plastic utensils. One and done, and they were thrown out in the trash.

Even though he was quarantined in his room, there was still the question as to if anyone else had COVID. Did we actually get infected by my dad? Was the incubation period just building up? I still live at home with my parents along with my husband, so since we weren’t sure since we were all exposed, we all continued to stay at least 6 feet from each other. It was weird. When it came to meal times, we ate alone and wore masks even at home. I even double-masked.

Lupus symptoms or COVID?

There were days when I felt like I had a headache, was fatigued, or felt warm. I was thinking, "oh no!" This is it. I must have covid. But, when checked my temperature, it was normal. I tested again for COVID, and it was negative too. The summer heat and the stress from this situation probably triggered a lupus flare, and that was what I was feeling. After a good night's rest, those symptoms tended to fade away. We all continued to test, and we all still tested negative.

After 2 weeks of testing, we were all still negative. Living with lupus, my guard was always on high alert. Every time I felt a symptom, I was scared. We were beyond thankful that none of us got Covid even though we were all close to my dad. My dad also made a speedy recovery; after 5 days, he felt much better.