As we are going headfirst into another crazy explosive time of COVID, the number of cases is skyrocketing and so are all the different guidelines that are getting thrown around. As someone who had COVID in 2021 and is now going through my second round of quarantine, I can easily tell you a lot has changed.
To start off with, most people are vaccinated so they could be positive with no symptoms at all and only have to quarantine for 5 days if they stay a-symptomatic the whole time. Whereas others who are also vaccinated could test positive and have clear tiring symptoms that cause them to quarantine for 10 days.
Another big issue is how long the COVID test results are taking to get back. A year ago it was taking 24-48 hours whereas now it is taking 4-6 days which at that point if you are positive when you get tested you could not even be contagious anymore and would have to start your quarantine over again.
I have had multiple people that I know end up testing positive after waiting almost a week to get their results back when at that point their quarantine is already over. The same seems to be happening for me since I didn’t have any symptoms from the beginning and even as someone who is vaccinated and boosted my quarantine can be extended even longer with the results taking so long to come back.
Another big difference that has come to light is how so many people only felt sick for maybe two days tops and the worst that they felt was just a sore throat and body aches for less than 24 hours. This is not only showing that the vaccines are doing their job but it is also showing how people have been able to lower their high-strung awareness of anything that could make them feel even the slightest bit off.
Overall having to quarantine a second time is very different and extremely more unknown which is very unnerving because it has become a very large waiting game but at the same time, it is nice to see that what we are doing is working.