On Christmas Eve, Joy, a senior in the United States, sent a WeChat message: "I have been diagnosed with new crown, it is so uncomfortable that I dare not tell my parents that they are worried, what to do?" ”
Since December, the new virus Omicorn, which has a strong transmission rate, has been threatening, with more than 10 million new confirmed cases in the United States in just 27 days, and the total number of confirmed cases as of yesterday exceeded 60 million, while the number of confirmed cases worldwide has exceeded 300 million.
At this stage, the most worrying thing for parents of international students is that their children have the new crown overseas.
At a time when the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases every day has lost its sense of reality and fallen into madness because of too many, I asked Joy to write down the "robbery" that he has experienced in the past ten days.
On December 18th, the weather was clear, and after the last final exam, I collapsed on my bed, letting my thoughts drift to the upcoming Christmas journey.
This holiday has been brewing in my mind for a long time: first to New York, then To Miami, to eat Chinese food, to see the exhibition, to watch the show, and then to blow the sea breeze and see the sunset. Thinking about it, the pressure of six final exams was swept away, and the beautiful vision of the holiday began to rise in my head.
But quietly, the new crown came to us with the latest variant of the omicron.
Since the start of the school year in September, the school has suspended weekly fixed nucleic acid testing and only provided symptomatic testing to students who are unwell. As offline teaching returns to normal, learning life is back on track.
Gradually, the epidemic "disappeared" from our daily lives, and it seemed that only the mask on the face was like a stubborn scar, reminding us that the new crown was still raging.
When international students talk about covid-19, they often no longer have the same fear and resistance attitude that they had two or two years ago. We have more or less witnessed the process of our classmates from infection to healing, and because of their youth, they have more "reckless" confidence.
In a blink of an eye, when the epidemic began as a sophomore, I have entered my senior year, and people around me are preparing for internships, graduate schools, and jobs; GPA does not dare to relax, resume does not dare to slacken off, and the question of where to go after graduation is even more banging on everyone's heart...
But just as our fear of COVID-19 receded in the midst of a busy life, it made a comeback.
When I received a close notification from the school in New York, I was preparing my long-distance boyfriend for an afternoon trip. It was the first time I had become a close connection, and I couldn't help but feel an excitement. Soon, I received a message from a friend on WeChat telling me that she had just been diagnosed, but it was not a big problem at the moment.
I had just finished my vaccination and one of my arms was so sore that I couldn't lift it, but there was no discomfort other than that. I calmed down a little and said to my boyfriend, "I'm close, and we may both be positive." ”
He acted very calmly. After all, similar conversations have happened between us many times since the beginning of the epidemic, and we have also been aware of the infection together.
The priority was to find a place to do the test, but it was a wall all the way. All the test kits at CVS were sold out; the roadside clinction, which clearly said no appointments were required, told us that we were full today and would not receive new tests.
In the face of my persistent inquiry, a supermarket clerk replied: "I really don't know where else is sold, all the kits are sold out, and everyone is looking for them like crazy!" ”
The number of positive cases announced in New York City that day had climbed to 18,000, and I didn't know what it meant, but what the salesman said sounded alarm bells in my ears.
Unable to find a test point, we decided to go back to Airbnb to self-isolate.
I sent WeChat to two friends I had met the day before and told them I had a close connection. "If it's already infected, there's nothing you can do." That night, the two of them continued to come to play with us. This somewhat too rash attitude may also be a small resistance to "normal life" after two years of exhaustion.
On the 24th, I finally got an antibody test in the Chelsea area, and the results came out in two hours.
Although it was a Christmas Eve afternoon, there was a long queue at the test site, and many people stood on the street outside. It was cold and people were wrapped in down jackets. The streets are full of Christmas decorations, but they still can't help but reveal a hint of depression.
New York, after all, is a little different from what I think is so bright that it makes me feel stressed. Did it change, or did my state of mind change?
Lady Luck gave me a.
I was ready for a positive result that day, and I saw a firm line of "negatives" that day, as if I had been granted amnesty. However, life is always full of drama, and two days later, the news of another friend's diagnosis of COVID-19 came, and that night, I began to cough.
The day after Christmas break, New York City released official figures of 55,000 new cases, but the number of real infections must far exceed that number.
According to NBC News on December 28, 1 in every 50 people in Manhattan has been infected with COVID-19 in the past week.
In the darkness, I knew I had been recruited. The next day, my boyfriend also started coughing. The nucleic acid tests around our area were all full, and it was difficult to find the testing point for a while, and after the unanimous positive judgment had not run, we began to isolate at home.
On the 28th, symptoms began to worsen. We were extremely thirsty at first, and we began to have fevers one after another, and when it was close to midnight, we couldn't stay up, and asked in the student group if anyone had covid medicine, fortunately, there were well-meaning people, loaded a handful of Tylenol and Lotus Qing plague in our door, and carried out a contactless delivery of medicine.
The symptoms at that time were very similar to a severe cold, fever, general weakness, headache, and dizziness when moving. After eating Tylenol, the body temperature went down, but it still had a headache.
On the 29th, my boyfriend continued to have a fever, and my fever did not repeat, but the headache was too much to move. At the same time, I began to have symptoms of stomach pain and nausea, and when I smelled the food, I felt nauseous, so I continued to eat Lotus Qing plague and vitamin C.
I have a very small WeChat group and unfortunately all are positive. Some people have no symptoms, some people cough, some people have fevers and headaches, but few people lose their sense of taste and smell. Everyone lives in their own homes and relies on their own immunity to heal.
■ In this wave of epidemics, young adults are the most vulnerable to infection.
On the 30th, we didn't have a fever, but it was still like two half-dead fish, and it felt like I had just finished riding a four- or five-wheel roller coaster, dizzy, and could only lie motionless.
I still have stomachaches, and when I eat, I feel sick to my stomach, or I have diarrhea. He was coughing badly. Keep taking your medicine. The oximeter was ordered like a sheep, but it would not be delivered until January 6th.
While thinking wildly on my sickbed, I asked the subject, "Are we going to die?" Without hesitation, he said, "Yes." "Everybody dies." I couldn't help but roll my eyes, but there was also some relief. On the 31st, the symptoms began to improve. I actually had the strength to open the computer that I hadn't touched in 3 days to watch the last episode of the TV series.
At the same time, I began to think about a new big question: "When should I tell my parents?" "When I realized that I was positive for covid-19, I subconsciously chose to hide it.
On the one hand, I am worried that my parents are too anxious and can't sleep well, on the other hand, I also think that I can take care of myself, and my parents can't help much. In the days after Christmas, my parents still told me to pay attention to epidemic prevention in our family WeChat group as usual, and I told them as usual that I was all right.
Separated by mountains and seas, such an everyday confirmation is more like a tacit understanding and belief in each other. And in those few days of fever, I also felt the weight of this worry.
Between half asleep and half awake, I was always worried that I missed my parents' WeChat, and not replying in time made them unnecessarily worried.
■ The most prominent position on Cornell University's official website is the epidemic warning level.
On January 1, we entered a new year. My boyfriend and I are also in a much better physical condition. As other friends say to us, the more serious symptoms of this round of new crown are about 4 to 5 days, and then there will be a significant improvement. On January 2nd, my body improved steadily.
That night, I finally made up my mind to send a long WeChat message to my parents, confessing what happened to me in the past few days, their first reaction was heartache, but at the same time they understood my choice.
Mom said in the WeChat group: "It hurts, but it is really out of reach, very helpless, baby, can only take care of everything like an adult." "They quickly began to reassure me: young, vaccinated again, sure to be fine, let me not worry too much."
In the days that followed, my parents would ask me about my physical condition every morning. Fortunately, I have recovered day by day, and now I am like no one.
More than ten days have passed since the beginning of the symptoms, and none of the friends who were infected at about the same time as me have recovered. This round of the epidemic has a large number of infected people, but the fatality rate is similar to that of the flu, and many people say that it is like having a cold.
But no one dares to take it lightly. Now the epidemic situation in the United States is still increasing rapidly, and the addition of seven or eight hundred thousand new additions a day almost makes people lose their sense of reality, and only feel a kind of "madness".
After the Christmas holidays, because of the epidemic, many universities have chosen to postpone the start of school, or switch to online first, and no one can say for sure what the next semester will become. Having just recovered, we are beginning to throw ourselves into another new, "ups and downs" challenge.
■ The picture is from the North American ticket emperor, and the flight began to melt down sharply.
Will we be safe? Will the white-haired old professors be safe? Will there be a new variant after Omicron? Will flight circuit breakers change? When will I see my parents next?
All we can do is wait, wait for nucleic acid to turn negative, wait for contact to self-isolate, wait for return to campus, wait for more uncertain futures.