You are sitting in your dorm room one day and you get a call from one of the contact tracers. You have been in close proximity to someone who tested positive for COVID-19 and need to quarantine in your room. What do you do now?
- Always Be Prepared
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First of all, always be prepared to quarantine. Make sure to have a few of your favorite snacks and drinks ready to go. Although Hoover will still be providing you food through the pickup on Wallace Street, you may not like what they have to serve you every day, so be sure to keep some meal items as well so you do not go hungry while in quarantine. Another thing that is essential to have before quarantine is tissues, feminine products, and all of the medicine you take. If you do test positive during your quarantine, you will need all of those things since you would be moved to the isolation housing immediately.
- Get Ahead
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Being stuck in your room stinks, but without all of the social obligations, you have much more free time to be able to get all of your schoolwork done. Use this time to catch up on whatever schoolwork you have or maybe even get ahead. You can do it!
- Stay Connected
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Now that you are alone, you may start to feel like you are in this alone, but you are not. You have friends and family that are cheering you on from the sidelines. Call your parents, grandparents, or siblings since you have time and check in on them/give them an update on how you are doing. You can also FaceTime your friends and talk about how you are feeling and discuss what they were up to that day. Or even make some popcorn and have a Netflix party with your friends or family for a quarantine movie night!
- Spend Time Outside
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Getting some fresh air will improve your mood and give you a change of scenery. You can read outside as long as you are alone and wear your mask. Something else you can do is take a stroll around campus by yourself and masked. If neither of those are appealing to you, another option is to open your window to let some fresh air into your room.
- Journal
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Contact tracers will be calling you asking if you have any symptoms, keep a daily log of any symptoms and your temperature. By doing this, you will be able to tell if you are starting to get a fever or having any new symptoms.
- Clean and Organize
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While you are spending so much time in that small dorm room, you finally have the time to clean up the messes you have neglected because you were too busy. Getting organized will make you feel better about the space you are in while also looking nice for those zoom calls you will be on for classes!
- Grocery Shopping
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While in quarantine, you have a moral obligation to not spread coronavirus to the community, but what happens if you need food? In Greencastle there is a Walmart that provides contactless pickup. If you have a car, you could order your groceries on the Walmart App then pick it up in the designated parking spots. If you do not have a car, you can ask one of your trusted friends to pick up your groceries and put them outside of your door.
- Sleep
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Make sure to keep your sleep schedule consistent. Not staying up too late or sleeping in too late will make you feel better while also creating less of an adjustment back to life outside of quarantine.
- Take Care of Yourself
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In the likely event that you will be quarantined at least once this school year, remember to stay calm and do what makes you happy. Paint your nails, do a facemask, or even do your hair or makeup nicely one day. In quarantine, it will be easy to neglect yourself, but you must prioritize your feelings and find ways to keep positive. While it is hard mentally, it is necessary to stop an outbreak on our campus. DePauw would not make students do a quarantine if it was possible so with that being said, you got this!