Coronavirus Catch-up (pt. 2)

Sunday, March 1st was uneventful.  I worked on laundry and met via Facetime with a couple piano students.  March 2-6 was our spring bookfair, and I knew that would be a busy, busy week.  Luckily, we had Tuesday March 3 off for primary Election Day, and I knew I'd be able to catch up on sleep and house stuff that day.
It was a crazy-busy week back to school.  I arrived at work extra early Monday morning to finish setting up the bookfair and be ready to open when students arrived.  I didn't see many teachers that day, but we had a couple hundred students through the bookfair.  Wednesday through Friday weren't really different at school--busy with lots of students.  My principal saw me Wednesday morning and welcomed me back (he hadn't see me Monday); he joked about my bringing back the Coronavirus, and I jokingly said back to him, "I'd be the hero of this school if I got us a couple weeks off!" We had one snow day and a couple delays this winter, so a little break would be welcomed by staff and students.  How funny it was at the moment and how NOT funny it is now. The news from Italy continued to be dire, and people really started asking me about our trip and what it was like there.
Sunday morning, March 8, we got a phone call from my spouse's Board of Directors chair, who let us know a parent had questioned him why we didn't self-quarantine.  We knew nothing about self-quarantining, but quickly went on the CDC and Health Dept website to read the information there.  YES, we needed to self-quarantine.  Or did we? The guidelines were not clear.  I immediately texted and emailed my school administration, and over the next four hours, I was told to stay home indefinitely; come to school--it was fine; stay home for a day so they could sort it out; not problem, come to school.  The last thing I heard Sunday night was from the school nurse, who heard from her nurse manager that I was fine to come to work.  So I went to work.

The wording above is what is currently posted on the CDC website; it is not what it said on Sunday, March 8th. The Virginia Health Dept put out this notice on Sunday, March 8,  It "recommends" that we stay home for 14 days.  I absolutely would have felt devastated if I had been sick and didn't know it or passed the virus on to others.  Thank God that did not happen! By the grace of God that did not happen.  Everything was so cavalier that first week of March; we were not taking things seriously at all.
I went to work Monday morning, March 9th, still needing to pack up the bookfair and do the final deposit for the week. I was also rehearsing with the chorus for their assessments later that week.  About an hour into the school day, the nurse pulled me out of the chorus room and told me I had to go home until the end of my 14-day return period, which would be Saturday, March 14.  We immediately grabbed the closest administrator, who gave me one hour to finish out what I needed to do in my office and go home.  First, in tears, I had to tell the chorus teacher I couldn't be her accompanist, completely abandoning her the week of her assessments.  I called my spouse and told them the news and finished packing up my school life.  I drove home in tears and started my home confinement. 
At first, I was so embarrassed--I thought that if word got out it would look bad for my school and my district.  I didn't tell anyone for days, even though the school nurse said that everything was changing so quickly and that I did the right thing letting administration know as soon as I realized. But as these days went by, everything continued to change so quickly that my little self-quarantine was such a little particle.  Thankfully, I still felt healthy and had no symptoms.  My assistant principal and school nurse checked in by text every single day, which was comforting.
In my next post I'll write about that week of home-confinement and the news we were receiving from around the world.