A long walk

Today did not go as planned. As I was taking my morning walk I got a tap on my watch from a NHS COVID app notification on my phone telling me that come into contact with somebody who has subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 and now I have to self isolate. I did a little digging on the app and it seems that the ‘contact’ was last Thursday when I went in to the office. The rules, apparently, mean I have to self-isolate but, unless get a positive test result, PY does not. And the 10 days started last Thursday so I only have a 6-day self isolation request.

I did a little digging with people at work who were with me in most of the same places - including in the pub in the evening - but nobody has received a similar alert. I am ruling the office and the pub out as the place of contact but, I guess, I’ll never know where it was. I feel strangely compelled to work out where the contact was even though it will make no difference to what happens next.

Official messages are a little mixed. Some sites say that I must stay at home and some say I can only go our for a COVID test. I decided that, as long as I stopped nowhere, I should get a proper lab-based PCR test as fast as possible. I booked an appointment at a test centre, walked there instead of taking transport. I looked at the map but followed as many back roads and walks through parks as possible so, in the end, I only passed one other person all the way there and back. The booking process was easy - although I nearly booked a drive-through centre by mistake - and everybody helpful at the test centre. The only problem is that the results take longer than the home testing lateral flow tests. So I won’t know until tomorrow at the earliest.

I don’t feel ill or have any symptoms but I don’t want to be a carrier so I am going to observe the self-isolation as best as possible and won’t leave the house. I don’t think I can avoid all contact with PY and, therefore, we need the result to work out what he has to do. As he’s not actually going anywhere I guess we can wait until the result.