abc
Well-known member
No, it’s not a joke. Nor some rhetorical statement. This was for real.
Back in February and March of last year, I was seeing a physical therapist for a shoulder issue once a week. Although I knew about the virus in China, like everyone else, I didn’t believe it could be in our mix already. After all, hospitals were already on alert looking out for cases of pneumonia. And they haven’t seen any cases yet... (which we now know it was untrue. The CDC Covid testing kit was faulty!)
1st week of March, Monday, I arrived at the office seeing people standing in groups (haha!) discussing the latest news that “the first” Covid case was discovered in the suburb of the city. And the person was known to come to work in the city daily. Well, that was hitting a bit close to home...
So there’s discussion of whether people ought to be working from home for the time being, just for a couple weeks until “this thing got under control”. But, as I had an appointment with my physical therapist the next day. I went back to the office (near the therapist office) the next morning. I realized most people had opted to work from home. The office was a ghost town. Everyone still in the office were there for one personal reason or another like myself. Clearly, there’s no reason to be coming into the office the next day any more.
I had been planning on taking a week off to go skiing sometime in March. I made an instant decision to not only work from home, but move my “work home” to the mountain of Colorado for the next “couple of weeks”!
At midday, I went to the physical therapist as scheduled. I had another appointment for the following week again. But as I was going away to ski, I cancelled the following week’s appointment.
Still unclear as to how long my working/skiing arrangement would last, I kept all the subsequent appointments. On the other hand, the work from home could potentially last for more than 2 weeks, I decided to drive to Colorado instead flying out to maximize my flexibility.
While out in Colorado, I started hearing the seriousness of the situation back in New York. I called sometime during the 2nd week of March, to cancel all the subsequent appointments starting from 3rd week of March. I was told they’re shutting down the physical therapy facility “as a precaution”.
Unbeknown to the secretary, they were by then all been infected. As they stayed home, one by one, they started getting sick. Then their families...
But I wouldn’t know anything about it till much later.
....................................................................
Fast forward to March 2021.
....................................................................
Having completed my Covid vaccination, I started making appointments to dentist, doctor and physical therapist for all those long delayed treatments. One of them was my physical therapist treating an on-going shoulder issue, when the therapy sessions got abruptly cancelled in March of 2019.
We chitchat while she’s working on my shoulder and back. That’s when she told me she and just about all of the staff in the therapy room got Covid in mid-March of last year. She then brought the virus home and got all of her family sick.
She continued with the details: “We heard about the virus in early March. But we were told mask were not necessary. Then in mid-March, I remember it’s 3rd week of March, we shut the place down. But I got sick the day after the office was close. I must have got infected the week before, that would be the 2nd week of March...”
A chill ran down my spine.
I remember distinctly 2nd week of March was the week I left for Colorado.
Had I not made that snap decision to go skiing in Colorado, I would have gone back to the her on that 2nd week of March for my appointment as originally planed. I would have quite likely could have caught it from my therapist (or other staffs) in that same week.
Scary how close I was to have contracted Covid last March. Just 1 week. A week I chose to ski instead.
My decision to skip town to go skiing had saved me from an almost certain Covid infection!
Back in February and March of last year, I was seeing a physical therapist for a shoulder issue once a week. Although I knew about the virus in China, like everyone else, I didn’t believe it could be in our mix already. After all, hospitals were already on alert looking out for cases of pneumonia. And they haven’t seen any cases yet... (which we now know it was untrue. The CDC Covid testing kit was faulty!)
1st week of March, Monday, I arrived at the office seeing people standing in groups (haha!) discussing the latest news that “the first” Covid case was discovered in the suburb of the city. And the person was known to come to work in the city daily. Well, that was hitting a bit close to home...
So there’s discussion of whether people ought to be working from home for the time being, just for a couple weeks until “this thing got under control”. But, as I had an appointment with my physical therapist the next day. I went back to the office (near the therapist office) the next morning. I realized most people had opted to work from home. The office was a ghost town. Everyone still in the office were there for one personal reason or another like myself. Clearly, there’s no reason to be coming into the office the next day any more.
I had been planning on taking a week off to go skiing sometime in March. I made an instant decision to not only work from home, but move my “work home” to the mountain of Colorado for the next “couple of weeks”!
At midday, I went to the physical therapist as scheduled. I had another appointment for the following week again. But as I was going away to ski, I cancelled the following week’s appointment.
Still unclear as to how long my working/skiing arrangement would last, I kept all the subsequent appointments. On the other hand, the work from home could potentially last for more than 2 weeks, I decided to drive to Colorado instead flying out to maximize my flexibility.
While out in Colorado, I started hearing the seriousness of the situation back in New York. I called sometime during the 2nd week of March, to cancel all the subsequent appointments starting from 3rd week of March. I was told they’re shutting down the physical therapy facility “as a precaution”.
Unbeknown to the secretary, they were by then all been infected. As they stayed home, one by one, they started getting sick. Then their families...
But I wouldn’t know anything about it till much later.
....................................................................
Fast forward to March 2021.
....................................................................
Having completed my Covid vaccination, I started making appointments to dentist, doctor and physical therapist for all those long delayed treatments. One of them was my physical therapist treating an on-going shoulder issue, when the therapy sessions got abruptly cancelled in March of 2019.
We chitchat while she’s working on my shoulder and back. That’s when she told me she and just about all of the staff in the therapy room got Covid in mid-March of last year. She then brought the virus home and got all of her family sick.
She continued with the details: “We heard about the virus in early March. But we were told mask were not necessary. Then in mid-March, I remember it’s 3rd week of March, we shut the place down. But I got sick the day after the office was close. I must have got infected the week before, that would be the 2nd week of March...”
A chill ran down my spine.
I remember distinctly 2nd week of March was the week I left for Colorado.
Had I not made that snap decision to go skiing in Colorado, I would have gone back to the her on that 2nd week of March for my appointment as originally planed. I would have quite likely could have caught it from my therapist (or other staffs) in that same week.
Scary how close I was to have contracted Covid last March. Just 1 week. A week I chose to ski instead.
My decision to skip town to go skiing had saved me from an almost certain Covid infection!