WiNK

With the start of the new year, new Covid numbers have rapidly emerged, increasing in the state of Connecticut to a positive test rate of 11 % on Christmas day to 31% on January eleventh just shy of only twelve days into 2022. The Covid surge we are experiencing right now is very real, and it feels like almost everyone who was able to avoid Covid since March of 2020 started dropping like flies and testing positive.

The Saturday night before the resumption of school after Winter Break, my dad started feeling symptoms associated with Covid, which progressed over the course to the next night. All the while, my sister Hannah and I started feeling mild symptoms Sunday night. Because Hannah's and my symptoms were mild and assumed there was no way it could be Covid since we are both fully vaccinated, I packed up my backpack and basketball shoes awaiting my return to school after a long two weeks off. On Monday, my family woke up, hurriedly pulled our things together and awaited our mom to fill out our Magnus screenings. That usual green go sign was unfortunately a red stop sign which was a weird sight to see. Our family of four scheduled tests for later that day.

I drove my dad to get tested because he wasn't feeling well enough to drive himself, and my mom, Hannah, and I all got tested and anxiously waited for our results. My dad and mom tested positive, and Hannah and I tested negative. It was straight split down the middle. Our parents faced positive cases while Hannah and I were off the hook with negative results.

Although, Hannah faced in her mind an even more daunting circumstance; her dance competition the upcoming weekend and she had five days to figure out what to do. She was very concerned about how the logistics her dance competition would play out. First of all Hannah had to make sure she was allowed to attend considering we had two household members infected with Covid. Fortunately for Hannah, our parents' symptoms arose far enough prior to the competition she was able to attend. The second challenge my sister faced was getting to her dance competition, so my mom called about three different people who would possibly be willing to take her, and my grandma agreed and I went as well to help out as best as I could.

My main priority for the week was keeping up with all my schoolwork because I knew how hard it would be to play catch up. Luckily for us a snowstorm was in the forecast that week and we were given two snow days, so with that being said, I didn't miss as much school as I would have. If you think about a week it seems like such an enormous chunk of time and you'd most likely have a mile long list of things you'd accomplish but the week snuck right past me at lightning speed. A

fter a week of being at my mom and dad's aid, catching up on assignments, and watching netflix, Friday arose instantaneously and it was time to head out to New Jersey for Hannah's dance competition. I knew it was going to be a long week because if you're not familiar with a dancer's life, there's a lot that goes into it; make-up, quick changes, hair, nerves, and lots of drama. Our mom usually helps Hannah along with most of it but my grandma and I went and fortunately it was a lot calmer than expected. Hannah was able to manage and I had the task of watching her dances and updating my parents back home with how she did.

With all of that being said I still sit back and scratch my head, perplexed how my sister and I didn't test positive in an un-isolated household at the time, practically sitting in a petri-dish full of Covid. What is even more bizarre is that a handful of families I've talked to have run into the same circumstance of one, two people or even half of their families testing positive, and the rest negative. This virus is more unpredictable how people get it, than the weather. Causing chaos, and with the evolution of new variants this virus simply isn't going away any time soon as we all have adjusted to our new normal.