About five times a day, I am convinced I am finally coming down with the “swine flu.” That’s it, on the right. The symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. I cough several times a day. I have post-nasal drip, which sometimes results in a sore throat. I get chilled easily. I am often fatigued. I get headaches. Different parts of my body ache at various times. Happily, I rarely feel fevered.
There were five students absent from class first period today. There were six absent from third period. Third period already had one confirmed (i.e. actually tested) case, and one student has now been out for seven days.
For the first time ever, I am keeping a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer on my classroom desk. Teacher desks are some of the most microbially-rich workplace surfaces anywhere. I make sure the tissue box in the classroom is NOT on the teacher desk.
Yesterday I sent a kid to the nurse’s office at the beginning of sixth period. He never returned, and was absent today.
We had Physics Olympics last weekend, and we were supposed to have a coaches’ meeting tonight. But we had to postpone it because too many of the coaches were sick.
I’m STILL not sick yet. But if I catch myself convinced for the 6th or 7th time in a day that I am finally coming down with it, I think I probably forgot to take my anxiety meds that morning. This pandemic is hell on hypochondriacs like me. The anticipation is killing me!
