Lockdown day five: possibilitea

The cracks were commencing. The obsessive cleaning was becoming a chore; Georgia’s Covid-19 symptoms seemed somewhat stagnant; then, to top it all off, a pigeon flew in through the balcony door. The term ‘these four walls’ had never felt more applicable – and then, out sprung a silver lining.

03:43pm, my phone rings. ‘Hi, we’re calling from Track and Trace.’ I brace myself for the usual spiel about being in contact with someone who had Covid-19 and to listen to some advice. Then – ‘We’re wondering if you want to take part in a study’. *

It turns out the call was better news than we could have expected. Did we want to participate in a study where we would be given rapid tests every day (along with two PCR tests) and, if we test negative each day, be given the freedom to go out for daily exercise or essentials? Yes, frankly, I’d give an arm and a leg to be able to stretch my limbs a little more than the confines of my flat.

As previously mentioned, we’d already been doing the rapid tests and had come back negative each day – so we were fairly certain we would be negative anyway. All we had to do was do a couple of PCR tests as well and submit our rapid test results each day. Perhaps all the scrubbing was finally worth it if we were able to enjoy the sun for longer than half a day on my balcony.

We were on tenterhooks waiting for the new kit to arrive – but freedom was so close we could almost taste it. On the brink of losing our minds – the pigeon being the real cherry on top of a rather crap day – we would be pounding the pavements in less than 24 hours. All we had to do was stay positive and test negative. As we hit the midway point of self-isolation, were things finally looking up?

End of day five:

• Fallouts: a few hot-headed words were had (mainly from me)
• Takeaways: remain at 2 (I’m actually so impressed by us)
• Positive cases in the flat: still 1 (pleading with the big man not to screw us over here).

Stay tuned to see how our lockdown life progresses as the days roll closer to Monday 21st (a.k.a. freedom central) – and if we can venture into the great outdoors on Wednesday…

* Here’s the link to the Government website for the Daily Contact Tracing Study. If you are self-isolating and would also like to take part in the study, here is the link to sign up.