[Current & Culture] Finally Tested Positive for COVID-19

Last week, I finally tested positive for COVID-19. It’s the kind of situation that warrants using the adverb ‘finally.’ I had been avoiding it somehow, but there was a vague certainty that I would inevitably catch it sooner or later. Perhaps everyone’s feelings were similar, thinking it was just a matter of time before it happened.

Until then, I rarely took off my mask anywhere, and I was extra cautious when meeting people, so I hadn’t caught even a cold-like illness for a while. I had some hope that this spring, until Omicron subsided, I might somehow get through it safely. However, my two children who attend elementary school and kindergarten started running a fever. About half of their classmates had tested positive, and especially in kindergarten, many children were not attending.

Seeing my two children repeatedly say they were cold and their fever not going down, I realized, “Ah, both of them have caught COVID-19.” The self-test kits showed positive results, and the next day, the rapid antigen tests at the hospital also confirmed it. Fortunately, my wife and I tested negative. Since most children only have mild symptoms for about two days, it wasn’t a big concern. Both my wife and I remained fairly calm. But it was disheartening. What was the point of being cautious for nearly two years? The sick children said to me, “Dad, hold me.” To think that someone with COVID-19 would ask to be held so innocently. I wanted to tell them that since they had COVID-19, they needed to isolate even at home, but instead, I held them. After taking fever reducers and their temperatures dropping a bit, the children got out of bed and clung to me, saying, “Dad, attack the giant.” I could feel their warm breath. From that moment on, I let go of everything and played with them. Yes, as long as I’m with you, it doesn’t matter if it’s COVID-19 or anything else.

Two days after the children, my wife and I also tested positive. The children recovered physically and mentally within two days, but the adults were sick for nearly five full days. We felt cold, had fevers, muscle pain, and lethargy. Perhaps it was not a blessing but a misfortune that we initially tested negative while the children were positive. Maybe it would have been better to be sick together.

In the end, parents and children are inevitably a community of fate. No matter what physical or mental state they are in, you embrace them. There was no need to think long about that one request to be held. If I had lived without anyone connected to me to care for, I might have been able to endure until the end of the pandemic, wondering why people don’t take precautions, why people are so lax. But I am reminded once again that there are people who are structurally exposed to threats like COVID-19, people who must silently keep working despite knowing the risks, people who must hold someone close because that is their job or their life.

Now, it seems the end of COVID-19 is in sight. It has left many wounds, but it was a time for everyone to reaffirm their own values. Just as I did.

Kim Minseop, Social and Cultural Critic

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.