OLDS — A local psychologist discovered firsthand how COVID-19 can spread within a household.
While Jody Carrington and her family have since recovered and are no longer in quarantine, the experience nevertheless left behind an indelible mark.
“From the symptomatic perspective, all of us really showed up very differently,” Carrington said last week during a phone interview.
Their close encounter with the virus started following contact with a couple of members of her team who ended up testing positive on Nov. 6.
“So, then we were all in quarantine,” she said, referring to her husband and their children, a 10-year-old son and seven-year-old male and female fraternal twins.
But the first time her family was tested, everyone came back negative, she said.
“They make you isolate for a reason, because the incubation period is a bit tricky.”
On the 11th day of isolating at home, her husband Aaron was the first among the family to test positive, she said.
“Every time somebody you’re quarantined with then tests positive, your quarantine is extended by an additional two weeks, just in case you manifest symptoms after that.”
Two days after Aaron tested positive on Nov. 15, their seven-year-old son spiked a fever and also tested positive. Then, three days later, their seven-year-old daughter also fell ill with the virus. As fate would have it, Carrington was the next to test positive another three days later.
Asked whether she anticipated her own diagnosis as inevitable, Carrington candidly replied, “We hoped so actually, to be honest. It’s a bit of a gift if you don’t get it too severely, then it sort of gives you this antibody.”
The virus manifested a variety of different symptoms among them, she said.
One of her two employees lost their sense of smell and taste, while the other did not. One also endured headaches, which did not seem to be an issue for Carrington.
But while she didn’t end up with a throbbing head, exhaustion all but overwhelmed her.
“I was so, so, so tired. Like, I slept 20 hours a day for at least two, maybe three of the days,” she said.
Meanwhile, although Aaron wasn’t particularly burned out, he despite no history of smoking or serious pre-existing conditions — aside from being a bit more prone to allergies — developed a serious cough, which she never did.
“Most of us had red eyes to start with. But everything else seemed to be really different,” she said.
Their oldest son, however, managed to dodge the proverbial bullet, but remained in quarantine until Dec. 18, almost two weeks after Carrington’s isolation ended on Dec. 6.
“It’s funny,” she said.
“Our oldest son was with us the whole time, and we weren’t isolating from each other, so we were eating at the same dinner table and I would put them to bed at night, and he’s to this day tested negative.”
The twins experienced symptoms that were much less severe, which seems to align with what the research to date has indicated with regards to children showing fewer symptoms, she added.
Although she was walloped by a wave of fatigue, Carrington said her husband seemed to have had the worst of it.
“It knocked me out the most. But Aaron, in terms of sickness, I would say we were probably most worried about his response.”
But they, for the time being at least, are in the clear.
“We’re all feeling great and everybody is really doing well. So, we feel really lucky.”
Anxieties, anger and fear fuel conspiracies
The rampant spread of conspiracies and appetite for misinformation that has surged during the pandemic was almost predictable, she said.
“It’s understandable, to be honest. When we’re scared, we want an explanation for things, and we often tend to be polarizing in our view points,” she said.
“When we’re relaxed and calm, we have so much more of an open mind. But when people start to tell us what to do, and anxiety sets in, we tend to land on the borders of things — the outer limits of things. From a human perspective, it doesn’t surprise me that we have responded in this way.”
Amplifying people’s tendency to become more polarized are government regulations that had to be imposed to prevent the pandemic from spiralling further out of control, she said.
“Mad is sad’s bodyguard.”
And when someone is mad about something — such as the perception of their rights being taken away and being told they cannot visit family and friends or to put on a face covering they might not deem appropriate — emotions can end up clouding better judgment, she said.
“I think most people are good, and I think most people really want to be kind to each other,” she said.
“But when you tell somebody to do something — and sometimes that’s necessary — then I think kindness and grace is more contagious than the virus. But there certainly is a time to take charge, and that’s unfortunately what the government has had to do, in terms of the regulations,” she said.
“The response is expected. We just have to, I think, be as graceful as we can in this process.”
Asked her thoughts on people who either downplay or outright deny the pandemic, she said, “It breaks my heart a little bit.”
However, a person’s response often boils down to their personal life experience, she said.
“I think perception is a function of experience.”
So, someone who has been personally impacted by the pandemic — such as a mother like herself who watched her children struggle with fevers and feared a worst-case outcome, or the health-care professionals at the front lines who are forced to help families say their final farewells to loved ones through a piece of Plexiglas glass — is more likely to believe and be that much more adamant about the necessity of taking precautions.
But a single mother who for example must go to work to make ends meet and needs to see her own mom who helps raise her children, might understandably be less inclined to see the situation from that perspective, she said.
“Empathy is really that idea to be able to sort of suspend judgment temporarily, and get into the shoes of somebody else. It doesn’t mean you condone it, it doesn’t mean you support it,” she said.
The growing body of information substantiates the gravity of the pandemic, she said.
“The data is pretty strong to be able to suggest that A.) this is a real, and B.) it’s far more deadly than a typical strain of the flu. Not for everybody — but you don’t know who that’s going to be.”
Therein, she said, lies a big part of the problem.
“Part of the issue with this, is the shame that comes in unknowingly exposing other people, and then having to tell them — or even if you don’t talk about it, know in your heart — that you were over at grandma’s or coaching your kids’ minor hockey team, and now they have COVID and they’re on a ventilator.”
