Stay. Away.

 *long suffering sigh*

So.

Yesterday after one of my roommate's got home from work.

She brought up the fact that her sibling had had their roommates test positive for covid, while the sibling tested negative. 

Said sibling is looking to stay away from their roomies while they are sick.

But to my understanding, said sibling was exposed to the sick roomies. After all. They went and got a covid test to see if they were positive as well.

So the sibling asked my roomie if they would be able to crash at our home while their roomies are sick with the virus.

And me and my other roomie were like. :S :S :S NO.

Like I've had a coworker who's had all their roomies test positive for COVID as well and they have constantly been tested negative (have had the test at least 4 times now) but THEY didn't come back to work until tonight. Which is like SIX days after they discovered their roomies were positive and they only came back after confirming yet another negative test and following the CDC guidelines on exposure.

But like just because the sibling tests negative....doesn't mean they're actually negative. Like my sister tested negative at first and then a few days later ended up with similar symptoms to those in her family who did test positive. 

So like. No. I don't want this person to be in our house and potentially exposing us if they just barely discovered their roommates are positive.

There are many other reasons as well like....WHERE would said sibling stay? Yes. We have a guest room.  Yes. They have a bathroom right there. But like....are we going to keep them confined to that room? How are they going to eat? What are they going to do? AND COULD THEY GET US SICK TOO?!?!?!!? How high are the chances of us running into the sibling if they stayed with us????

*exhales*

So me and my other roomie emphatically said. "NO." 

Like yes. I get that the roomie wants to help out their sibling and help them find a place to stay while their roomies are positive. I get that.

BUT when it comes to COVID? To how quickly the omicron variant is spreading? Ha. No. NO way. We had nearly 10,000 positive cases today. The highest on record so far in the pandemic. 

I've been feeling like I've been avoiding getting the virus by the tips of my fingers since basically Christmas and I do not need the added stress of the roomie's sibling potentially giving us the virus if they stayed here.

Plus my other roomie just got her booster shot today and is expecting to be knocked out a bit because of that for the next day or two. Definitely not a reason to have this sibling come over when one of us feels at risk. 

So like....we figured it was settled. We'd said no yesterday. Figured it was all good and taken care of.

BUT THEN.

Same roomie asked us AGAIN today if their sibling could stay as the sibling took ANOTHER test and AGAIN tested Negative.

BUT.

They haven't been away from their roomies long enough. (they should have just considered themselves positive and stayed at the apartment and quarantined there) 

Like to my knowledge said sibling probably discovered Sunday that their roomies were positive as they apparently stayed in a hotel room that night. and THEN stayed with a friend last night (potentially exposing them if they end up testing positive later on which makes me even LESS willing to let them stay here if they're not taking proper precautions)

BUT like I looked up the guidelines and if you're exposed to someone who tests positive then you need to QUARANTINE for FIVE days and then wear a mask for another 5 days after that and that's IF you've been vaccinated. Which I'm assuming this sibling has been but I don't know for sure.

BUT IN ANY CASE.

It's only been like maybe 48 hours since the sibling discovered their roommates were positive and left the environment.

That's hardly enough time to know for sure that they're for sure negative. They could still develop symptoms and such. There's still THREE days where they could still test positive. And then another FIVE days where they would need to be masked. And who knows if they would STAY MASKED. 

And it's just....irritating me.

Like I get it. I would want to help my siblings out too if they were in trouble.

But with COVID? It's a whole different situation.

I would do all I could to help my siblings. But I would do it in a SAFE way that would keep ME SAFE. I would go run errands for them. Grab groceries for them and leave it on the doorstep. Put them up in a hotel room if they needed it (and I could afford it) But I wouldn't invite them to STAY with me if they'd been exposed and there was any RISK to me. 

Like yes I'm vaccinated. But NO i am not taking risks. Nope nope nope. I've fought tooth and nail to avoid this virus and I'm already rather high at risk to get it just because I work RETAIL and I'm around so many customers 8 hours a day 5 days a week. The fact that I haven't gotten it is a miracle in of itself. (though who knows. Maybe I got it and just thought it was a cold? Maybe I didn't have symptoms. I don't know. But I'm not going to play russian roulette and risk myself with getting it)

And it just irks me that we told my roomie NO and then they asked again AFTER we said no and AFTER we told them why and AFTER we said "Hey I'm not comfortable with this." 

*exhales* 

Yah. I'm not happy with said roomie. 

*fingers crossed* that this time roomie will accept that no means NO and won't ask again.

We'll see. 

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi