Self-Isolation: Day 1

Today is Friday, April 17th 2020

I woke up around 05:45 and tossed in bed for approximately 20 minutes to wake myself up fully. It's my day to head into the office. For the last month we've been rotating our small team of five to minimize staff at work, keeping three of us to work-from-home.

I washed my face, brushed my teeth and for some reason decided to check my work phone. Maybe I had a feeling something was off, because it was.
My colleague; whom I was at the office with Wednesday, sent a WhatsApp message to our group stating he woke up around 02:00 "with shortness of breath, nausea, cough and chest pain suddenly".

Immediately I'm thinking about the coronavirus, the one they call COVID-19.

He's in his mid-twenties, living at home with his father. Thankfully it was just him and I working together, so we can rule out our sixty-seven-year-old Manager having had close contact. The two of them hadn't worked together in a couple weeks. Our two additional co-workers who were in the office the day before did not have a problem covering for us today. This is what we do - protect each other.

What I didn't realize at the time of the original WhatsApp message: he has asthma.
Any person with underlying health conditions has to be extra careful when they are in public today. We simply cannot know who may be carrying the coronavirus and this should be enough. Shouldn't it? Or do we need to continually watch a rise in confirmed cases in the Calgary zone for our people to take this seriously?

After performing the self-assessment online through MyHealth.ab.ca he will be referred for testing and must self-isolate for 10 days or until symptoms are completely gone (whichever is longer). Now my house is doing the same. This is what we do - protect each other.

My husband was also on duty to work-from-home yesterday so his office was not potentially exposed either; thankfully. He notified his boss as soon as I had the heart to let him know about the situation, and immediately contacted the rest of the management team. I, too decided to perform the self-assessment and the recommendation was to isolate for 10 days as well, based on the one symptom I had experienced over the last week. This is how we will effectively reduce the spread of the deadly COVID-19 in Calgary. We must protect each other.

For most of the day we sat across the kitchen table in work-mode.
Answering and making phone calls
Sending e-mails
Taking deep breaths from time to time
Just doing our best

We are both in sales of essential goods and services so it's important our clients know we are here to help. More so during these super scary days, when the President of America is tweeting about reopening the US economy. Meanwhile daily deaths in major US cities continues to surpass the 500's.

Our economy here in Alberta was in a rough patch BEFORE the pandemic started. But here we are sitting in our home offices trying to weather this storm. And it's only going to get worse if we don't keep our distance. I think if I do end up selling any equipment I'll burst into tears.

Thank you for the opportunity to protect and scribe.
Until tomorrow.