COVID: The Virus that stole Christmas
My trip to Cayman Islands was a roller coaster of emotions, stress and happiness, alternating between minutes. The second half of the experience instilled a fear of travelling that now makes me uncomfortable. As an avid traveler; one who likes to revel in cultural experiences and exposure, I find myself flitting through desire and caution, the latter being stronger and unbecoming. Nonetheless, I shall rise once more, laying claims to the sky.
I think it’s best to start this blog on a more negative note, get the tears, stress, pain and agony out the way. I want my readers and subscribers to finish this series with a smile rather than apprehension and fear.
Let’s get into it!
COVID - Omicron
This strain of the virus took down my entire family two days before Christmas. Let me tell you how this “nuisance” ruined Christmas. On December 23rd around 5pm, my mom entered the room with pure horror and distress written all over her face. She uttered three words that destroyed the remainder of my vacation in a matter of seconds. “Jaiden has COVID”. Jaiden my 10 year old nephew apparently got exposed to the virus while rehearsing for a church musical. I stumbled out the room in disbelief and the look on my sister’s face mirrored the words my mother uttered seconds ago. Images of teaching Jaiden how to ride a bicycle, eating and drinking from the same utensils and having fun together flashed like death sentences in my mind. My only thought was we all had it. Jaiden was ushered upstairs, isolated, and we all grabbed for a rapid test to know our fate. Myself, mom, dad, cousin and sister were all negative and we breathed a sigh of relief. That sigh was short lived as we all came tumbling down one by one. My sister and father tested positive the next day and myself, mom and cousin were still negative. My mom and I quickly relocated to another residence to “save ourselves”. What was suppose to be a Christmas morning of gifts, hot chocolate and food turned into segregation and tears. My father, sister and nephew spent Christmas together in their COVID den while mom, myself and cousin spent the time together in an unfamiliar place. It was not the Christmas I had imagined after four years of being apart and that broke me. Even at our new place of rest, my mom and I slept in separate bedrooms just to be safe. The entire situation broke my heart and instead of tears of joy on Christmas Day it was tears of sorrow. It got worse when I tested positive the day after Christmas and my mom tested positive two days after that. I didn’t know what was worse; getting infected or knowing that we botched Christmas due to false results. It’s the latter, the anger I felt when we were all back in my sister’s apartment knowing we all more than likely got infected the same time was palpable. We could’ve had a COVID Christmas but we allowed rapid tests to dictate our happiness. Anyways these were the symptoms we all experienced
Mom - asymptomatic
Dad - terrible cough for the first three days
Sister - cough and loss of taste for the first five days
Nephew - slight fever the day he tested positive
Myself - minor cough for the first three days
Cousin- negative
Isolation for the infected
This was the main source of contention and the most stressful part of the entire experience. It didn’t have to be but the island’s convoluted rules made the entire experience “hellish”. That’s the only word that comes to mind when I think back on the situation.
While other countries were following science, Cayman's isolation rules for the infected was ruled by fear. Cayman looked at the scientific data presented to the world on the virus and looked the other way. The country did the exact opposite of the data presented and thus we suffered. I could likened the isolation period for my family as being in prison at the mercy of the warden (Cayman Islands). We were at the whims of the public health official who chose fear rather than data.
Scenario 1
Science - Persons are unlikely to be infectious after a period of 10-14 days
Other countries - Those infected must isolate for a period of 5 to 10 days
Cayman Islands - “We are analyzing the data however persons must isolate until they can produce a negative PCR test or the infamous line “the decision to exit isolation is dependent on the chief medical officer”
Scenario 2
Science - The virus can live in your system for months and you may test positive for that amount of time, however we highly conclude you are not infectious.
Other countries- With that data you can travel with a positive test after 14 days or you are allowed to leave isolation after 10-14 days.
Cayman Islands - “We are analyzing the data however persons must isolate until they can produce a negative PCR test or “the decision to exit isolation is dependent on the chief medical officer”
Everyday two or three days we woke up knowing we had a PCR test scheduled for that day and hoped it would be negative so we can exhale. And every time the results came back positive; another blow to our mental and physical state, already fighting against a virus and the stress points that came with it.
While I was comforted that I could fly back to Canada with a positive test taken after 14 days, my parents did not have that comfort. Jamaica had no such rule and the isolation hit them harder than any of us expected. My parents are very active for their age and being cooped up with no clear exit date in sight was unbearable to watch. I was frustrated for them and that frustration bled out into my mental space. See below how long each of us were in prison I mean isolation:
Sister - 21 days
Mom - 21 days
Dad - 18 days
Nephew - 16 days
Myself - 16 days
And to drive my point home, I was the only one who tested negative after all of that. I guess after numerous calls from what I could imagine were other disgruntled families we were paroled.
Catching COVID wasn’t on our bucket lists but lucky for us we barely had any symptoms. I can say this with all my chest, the bulk of our stress (99%) came from the island’s isolation rules. The island turned an already stressful situation into a Freddy Kruger nightmare.
Flights and Finances
When you get infected with COVID in a foreign country, the first worry is usually re-booking your flight and the cost associated with that. A large part of our headache with flights can be attributed to the island’s rules i.e needing permission to leave isolation from the unreachable chief medical officer. Due to this rule and the lack of communication from public health officials, my mom and dad missed their flights to Jamaica. The repercussions you might ask; paying a change and flight difference fee for both of them. It didn’t help that my dad was released from isolation a few days before my mom and thus travelled days earlier. What that meant was that we had to shell out another couple hundred bucks to pay for separate transportation for both. I faired better in this regard as Air Canada allowed me one free flight change with no difference in price points. See below the dates when we all left Cayman Islands versus the initial dates.
Dad - left for Jamaica on January 8th (initial date was Jan 6th)
Mom - left for Jamaica on January 12th (initial date was Jan 6th)
Myself - left on January 10th (initial date was December 27th)
Stress
Spending a month in the Cayman Islands was never on my agenda, and while it provided an opportunity to spend more time with family, we were all too stressed to take advantage of it. The last two involuntary weeks of the trip was riddled with headaches, anxiety, insomnia and worry. Needless to say I would’ve preferred the trip ended when it was suppose to. The last two weeks were far too stressful to be considered a vacation and time well spent.
HOWEVER
We survived because we were tougher than any virus or isolation rules, we survived because we had each other.
I will end this here and leave this to settle in yours spirits.
Comment and let me know if you are a COVID survivor and your experience with isolation rules.
Until next time
Julz out!!
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