My brother's wife on facebook -
I am a high risk health care work worker (family doctor, over age 60, chronic asthma), and have a Masters in Public Health. I have mostly recovered from Covid 19 disease that I most likely was exposed to while traveling home to Alaska from Denver via Seattle in early March. I followed all of the recommendations at the time (don’t travel if sick, use hand sanitizer and wash hands, avoid touching my face). For four days after I returned home, I went about my normal life - dog classes, speech therapy appointment, a few errands. Five days after returning home, I started to feel tired and achey, then developed a very low grade fever and a non-productive cough. I isolated myself other than to go to my doctor for testing (wearing a mask and avoiding touching anything with my bare hands). My husband I started using separate bedrooms and bathrooms. My test for Covid was reported positive five days later; by that time my husband had developed body aches and a low grade fever; his test was positive also. Fortunately, we both were not severely sick, and I was easily able to control my asthma symptoms. I have now recovered and have been released from total isolation by the public health department. My husband is near the end of his Covid isolation.
Even though I very carefully followed all of the official recommendations that existed at the time, I got sick, and likely was a source of community spread in the four healthy days after I returned from traveling. My educated opinion is that there was enough information available early on in this pandemic to justify implementing management of viral spread much earlier. Too many people have already died, too many jobs have been lost, too many people are struggling with loss of normal existence. Please, err on the side of caution and compassion, put others’ health and lives above the desire to socialize. Go above and beyond the current isolation guidelines, if you can.