Coronavirus House Arrest - Again

 


First, the dismal news. I was awakened this morning by a text message informing me that once again, I need to self-isolate! Yes, it was true. As I read the announcement, I realized that I have once again been hanging out with persons who are testing positive with COVID. I don't know who these people are, since most of the people we spend any amount of time with are young missionaries and young adults.  

We called the mission office to see if any of the young missionaries had reported positive on COVID testing, and there isn't a single one in the whole of the mission. If there had been, the mission would have heard very quickly. Since I have to be isolating for 5 days, that means that the contact with the famous positve person was five days ago. That is the day we were - as a leadership council of 60 people - at Pembroke with Reverend Teal. 

Later, I was at the town square sitting on a bench with SK and another senior missionary, and then speaking with Matt. Later that day, I was with several young adults (all flat mates) - none of whom have reported testing positive.

Nevertheless, the message encouraged me to get a self-test kit to  find out if I am positive. SK hoofed it over to the local pharmacy and picked up the kit, which has 7 home tests in it. Isn't that comforting?



I followed instructions and took the test. In thirty minutes, I read the results ( it is like a pregnancy test...very simple) and discovered that I do not have COVID. As ordered on the app, I reported it to the NHS, and received this courteous reply letting me know that regardless of tests, I am housebound, a prisoner, grounded, on house arrest for another 5 days. Ugh.


On the way home from the pharmacy, SK stopped at a little tiny shop open out onto the street where they sell small meat pies. This is very British. They are warm and always smell so good. SK, knowing that I have wanted to try them ever since we got here, and knowing that this house arrest is kind of depressing, stopped and got us each one for lunch.

We sat down to lunch, with the little meat pies known as pasties, and Dr. Pepper, and played a round of Word Spiel. I won. That definitely improved the tenor of the day!



At nine in the evening, we tuned into the mission Saturday night Zoom call. It was President and Sister Thompson. They were a lot of fun and the missionaries enjoyed them immensely. They told the story of their meeting and courtship - and marriage. Who doesn't love stories like that?

If you are interested in seeing them and hearing them speak, there will be a half hour "Why I Believe" fireside tomorrow night - Sunday at 6 p.m. London Time. They will be the speakers. It will be on Facebook, but I think it is easier to tune into Youtube:  https://youtu.be/mrkrY_HeKto





Comments

Erin said…
Argh! How incredibly frustrating! I am sorry.
July 3, 2021 at 2:14 PM
melissa said…
Argh!!! So frustrating!!!!
July 4, 2021 at 12:33 AM
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