I am a freshman at UT Martin who was quarantined on campus on Feb. 2 before the winter storm hit. For future reference, I am vaccinated, boosted and I wear my mask all the time.
I started with a sore throat but thought nothing of it until my roommate’s boyfriend tested positive and then my roommate tested positive, too. I texted my RA to figure out what I was supposed to do, but she told me to call Student Health. They told me I would just have to wear my mask for five days because I am vaccinated. I proceeded to tell them that the positive test was my roommate, so they led me to fill out a form.
To go to the form, go to utm.edu, type into the search bar “COVID-19,” click on the first link and then click the link in the gray box. Filling out this form was a short process, but I was freaking out with anxiety and had to wait for a callback, which happened the next day at 9 a.m. However, I slept through the call and had to call Student Health back. They scheduled me for an appointment five days from when my roommate tested positive, which would be Friday unless my symptoms progressed.
The next day was Wednesday, but I was coughing all night and woke up with a horrible headache, snotty nose and sore throat. All symptoms were bearable and small, but because my roommate was positive, I most likely was positive, too. So at 9 a.m. I called Student Health, scheduled an appointment at 10 a.m., emailed my teacher and called my mom to prepare her for the chaos we were both about to experience.
They took a swab of my nose for a rapid test that would show results in 10 minutes and a test that would have to be sent off and come back with results the next day. My rapid test was positive, and Student Health asked me if I wanted to quarantine off campus or on campus. I chose to quarantine on campus to prevent COVID-19 from spreading to my family members.
I called my mom and told her what was happening, and she was upset that I didn’t come home. While I was busy packing up to be put into a quarantine room on campus, my mom was yelling at me on-call, running around her house and gathering items to give to me while in quarantine. She then jumped into her car and drove two hours to drop off those items. I thought it was funny, but heartwarming, too.
I packed clothes, bedsheets, towels, pillows, my bathroom bag, my medicine bag, shower mat, dish soap, schoolwork and extra snacks. Student Health told me that a microwave, minifridge and TV would already be provided in the room. After living in a quarantine room, I would like to add they also give you bathroom cleaning supplies, paper towels, trash bags and toilet paper but no hand soap.
After packing up, leaving the dorm to go to the quarantine room was a slow process because Housing was not notified until about 12:30 p.m. My RA then called and offered a cart to carry my bags down an elevator since I live on the third floor on the E side of Ellington, and she took me to the quarantine floor. The quarantine floor is the third floor on the F side of Ellington and I had to carry all my stuff up the three flights of stairs.
I got settled in my quarantine room and heard a knock on my door, which was someone from the front desk dropping off the bag my mom packed for me. You also do not share the bathroom with anyone; my RA said it would be concerning if I was sharing a bathroom with someone else. I first opened my window but realized a hornet entered inside the window. While freaking out about it possibly moving, I made a dish soap and water mixture and poured it on the hornet. This instantly washed it off the window and at least killed it. Then I got an email from Housing to fill out a form that consisted of rules and guidelines of how quarantine works; the food, laundry and trash schedule; and any dietary restrictions that needed to be discussed.
I clicked on the option that I needed to discuss dietary restrictions because I am a pescatarian who is also allergic to dairy, but the form didn’t allow extra space to discuss the restrictions. I was clueless about what to do next, and dinner came with my meal consisting of cheese and animal meat, so I had to call the front desk to tell them my dietary restriction. I kept it simple for them by saying no meat or dairy. I got a call later that night where the front desk apologized and offered extra snacks, which I thought was very thoughtful and understanding.
This is where it started to be easygoing in quarantine. The school was called off over winter storms for the rest of the week, so I never actually missed the rest of my classes for that week. All I had to focus on was feeling better. The lights were flickering during the night because of the winter storm, so my roommate and I were texting each other, worried about the generator not working.
The second day in quarantine I felt really good. I was cold because of the winter storm, but I used the single heating and air conditioning unit they have on that floor to heat the room. I started to do my homework and then started counting the days until I would get out of quarantine; I was told I would be in quarantine until Sunday. I had to be stuck in isolation for three more days while feeling healthy, super bored and stir-crazy.
I believed I would be out by Sunday so I could unpack all my stuff in my room and settle back into my dorm before Monday when I had to go back to class. However, I found out on Sunday that Student Health meant I had to stay all day Sunday and leave Monday morning, and I became overwhelmed at how I was going to unpack, set my stuff in my dorm, pack my school bag and then go straight to class.
I was told that the front desk could start getting me back to my dorm the earliest at midnight, but with no carts or elevator, or they would be open with everything available at 8 a.m. So, I chose to sleep and woke up at 7:50 to gather things and to move out at 8 a.m.
The advice I would give to anyone who gets put in this situation would be to put a stopper at the entrance door when taking your bags out of the quarantine floor because it makes it easier to take trips with an open door; ask if you can use the elevator to make your trip easier, both when moving in and out of the quarantine room; and realize that the day they tell you is your last day is the day you are staying in all day, but you are not leaving until the next morning instead. Student Health keeps you in quarantine for five days from when your symptoms start, and they considered my symptoms to start Tuesday, so I left Monday morning.
Overall, I felt like quarantine on campus does have miscommunication happen between Student Health and Housing, but everything else was planned out well. It is just scary at first when you have to figure out when to test, what is the test like, what to do when you test positive, what to pack, what to do about a hornet roommate for your first 10 minutes in a quarantine room, and how to handle being stuck in quarantine and not knowing when you were supposed to leave. I hope this article helps someone in the future or helps ease anxiety.
