false alarm

8/7/2021
As usual for the day, we are back at the office on Thursday morning to process and pick up documents. My boss picked up a call, and it was a colleague from the HR department who asked us all to go there and get tested for the new coronavirus. This ART test is very simple, similar to the operation of a pregnancy test stick. Just use a cotton swab to take a little saliva deep in the throat, mix it with chemical liquid and drop it on the test paper, wait about 15-20 minutes to know the result, the single line is negative and the double line is positive. While waiting for the results, the personnel department suddenly called me and said that double lines began to appear on my test paper... I couldn't believe it, because I had no symptoms or discomfort at all, and I was at home. No one felt any discomfort either. Could it be that I am asymptomatic? The sense of surprise and worry spread not only to me, but also to my colleagues. The HR department gave me a second and third test, but after waiting for a while it didn't show a double line. However, because of one positive result, the superiors arranged for me to go home and isolate immediately and made an appointment to go to the clinic for PCR testing that afternoon.

On the way home, I was in a mixed mood, worried that I would be a carrier of the bacteria and hurt the people around me. I am saddened to inform my family, boyfriends and best friends of this news, and it is very hard for everyone to believe it. When I got home, I didn't dare to go into the house, I just stayed outside and waited for the appointment time in the afternoon to go to the clinic for a test as soon as possible. I arrived at the clinic half an hour in advance and waited again. The test takes place in the back alley of the clinic. The nurse takes out the disassembled cotton swab from the clinic, inserts it into the nose and throat of the test person, and brings it into the clinic for processing. To be honest, seeing this situation made me a little scared to get tested because it is really unhygienic. However, the current situation requires a clear answer to the report, otherwise the company and I will not be able to feel at ease, so I still bite the bullet and test.

The results of the report will not be released until the next day. As soon as I got home, I went to take a shower, and my family packed up the vacant room for me to quarantine. The house was disinfected, and my mother seemed a little nervous that I would not touch everything in the house, which made me feel a little uncomfortable, but I can understand that this is for the safety of my family. After all, if I do get sick, I don't want my family to be in trouble. Staying in a small room alone will inevitably lead to cranky thoughts and feelings of irritability, nervousness, and fear, but there is no choice but to wait for the result and accept it. At the same time, I also got word that the HR department found out that my second test also had a shallow double line when it was finally cleaning up the test kits. The thought that I was still comforting myself, maybe the test was wrong, was also shattered. Am I really asymptomatic?

9/7/2021
After a hard night, the results of the report will be released today, and I feel uneasy and have no intention of doing anything. The boss and colleagues came to care about my situation and test results. This is the first time I have felt their enthusiasm since I joined the company for half a year. After waiting all morning and still haven't received the report from the clinic, my colleagues and I were both anxious. It was not until 2 o'clock in the afternoon that the personnel department finally brought good news. They called the clinic and learned that my report was negative! Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and put down the big stone in their hearts. I still can't believe this result, I was afraid that it was a waste of joy, and I was a little relieved until I received the report from the clinic. At night, I walked out of my room, ending my 24-hour self-isolation.

It is still unclear why the test at the company is positive. Is it really a test error? Am I a false negative or a false positive? The answer to all of this is unknown, but this false alarm really taught me a lesson to not take these invisible viruses lightly because you don't know when you've been entangled. During the epidemic, I hope everyone will follow the epidemic prevention measures and take care of yourself and others. Things are always easy to say or even irrelevant before they happen. Only by experiencing it can you really feel it. Hope you don't have to go through this. Health and safety is the most important thing.