I recently went through a scare I never thought that I would. I was told that I was possible positive for COVID via text. It wasn’t the message I was expecting from my good friend, who I had visited the other day to watch movies with. My mind went blank. I was doing everything right since the COVID outbreak. I wore face masks and washed my hands. I constantly carried disinfecting solutions. I was safe. Or so I thought. I had wanted one normal night of fun and visited my friend that had been negative for so long just like me.

However, COVID doesn’t care. You break the rules even once and it will infect you. From that point forward it was a mad dash to get tested and isolated. Though in America, we have a shortage of tests, which made things even more difficult. Difficult, because the only people who were getting tested were people that had symptoms only. I had no symptoms, but I wanted to know through a test if I had COVID in order to proceed with the right precautionary measures for the people I live and work with. It took many phone calls, begging, and research before I convince a lab to run a test on me TWO DAYS after I found out I was possibly had COVID. Isn’t that crazy? I could be running around and infecting people for TWO DAYS before I was tested. Thankfully I was negative and not a carrier.

Let me make this clear. I was lucky. Very lucky. My family and friends were not put in jeopardy by my actions and desire for normalcy. I did not end up in a hospital or dead. So, this is my plead as someone who went through a scare with COVID. Always wear your mask. Wash your hands. Protect others and yourself from infection. Normalcy will only be an option when COVID is not a danger.