I Thought I Could Handle Anything. Then My Husband Got Sick

When my husband began to show symptoms of COVID-19, about a week after we found out one of his coworkers on a building site in New York City had a positive test, I wasn’t particularly worried. He’s a middle-aged, athletic, healthy guy. Our kids live elsewhere. We would just hunker down for a few days and get through it together. After all, the pandemic has forced many people to do work that they have traditionally outsourced. Families are homeschooling, cleaning their own homes, cooking more meals, doing their own home repairs. Even if nobody in their home has fallen ill, people have had to behave more like health workers, by maintaining a hygienic environment, avoiding contamination and wearing protective garb. So, big deal, I would get to be a nurse for a while. (I had symptoms too, but they were much milder.) Admittedly, the talents nursing requires—compassion, patience, the ability to offer comfort—are not my strong suits. My skillset lies more in pestering people and being prepared to make them uncomfortable. The only medical skill I’ve ever mastered is making a bed with hospital corners. But I knew it would be impossible to get a test in New York City; only hospitals were administering them at the time and overwhelmed medical staff didn’t want anyone there unless they were having difficulty breathing. I knew going to see a doctor was out of the question. Going to the pharmacy was also out of the question. In fact, for probable corona...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news