How My Dad Got Covid-19 And Kept Living a Normal Life for Weeks

“Just letting you know I have had some stomach bug for a while but it’s no big deal.” That’s how my dad told me by phone (unknowingly) that he had Covid-19. It was just the beginning of the outbreak spreading beyond China and most people were still not really aware of it. My dad is high risk because he is 75 but being retired in the suburbs of Paris and not very social, he doesn’t expose himself to many germs. Except for one important detail: his wife works in central Paris, commutes daily in a crowded train, and works with homeless people so she was at high risk for getting Covid.

When regular life ceased and we were told to stay put, I made a quick decision to return to spend the lockdown in France with my family. I thought the ideal place for social isolation would be our ski chalet in the mountains. I’d be alone with my toddler but close enough to check on my dad. We have a huge property with plenty of outdoor space and distance between neighbors. Not like in San Diego, where we lived in an apartment with no backyard and tons of people around. It sounded like the safest place for us to be for the next two months. Little did I know I was going to be exposed to Covid-19.

When I arrived in Paris, my dad met me at the airport and he looked tired. On the drive to his house, I ate a sandwich but he said he wasn’t hungry. That night I stayed at his place and his wife mentioned she’d had a “cold” for three weeks. My dad didn’t tell me earlier but I noticed that he was coughing too…