Hugs, stir fry and sunlight: Waiting for 2 weeks in COVID-19 self-isolation

Self-quarantining for almost two straight weeks has been anything but easy for Mayson Sonntag.

Shacked up in his basement without any physical contact with his family or his dog has him missing the simpler things in life.

“When I come out of self-isolation, the first thing I’m probably going to do is hug my dog (and) spend some time with my family,” the 19-year-old Regina man said.

“I’ve been really craving stir fry, cooking a nice vegetable stir fry for myself. So I’m going to do that.”

And he’ll be sure to step into his backyard, “just to feel the sun.”

Sonntag attends Ithaca College in New York. He believes he contracted the novel coronavirus on March 7 while taking in a concert in New York City.

“Several people who I was with (at the show) also tested positive for the illness,” he said.

He flew to Regina on the evening of March 15, going straight into isolation when he got home. The next day, he started showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Sonntag was tested for the virus on March 18 and it came back positive.

He has been all alone in his basement since then, set to come out on Tuesday.

He said the experience is a lonely one, especially considering the lack of physical contact with his family, pet dog included.

Just as painful is the sudden, far-reaching change the virus has forced on his life.

“As a college student, immediately without any warning, being just ripped away from people that I consider family at college, and being put into online classes that I didn’t sign up for, it has been really stressful,” he said.

He is finding ways to bridge that emotional gap, after first distracting himself with TV shows and movies.

“I’ve just been talking to my friends every day. I’ve been calling them and checking in on them,” he said. “And one thing this has made me realize is just how much I really value those relationships and how much those are so much more important than any of the technology I have.”

He said he’s “leaning on people in my life that I care about, and they care about me.”

Despite the isolation, Sonntag said it’s important to see the bigger picture of how he is potentially saving other people from getting infected with the virus.

“I think we all have a role to play in protecting each other, especially with an illness as contagious as this one,” he said. “It’s hard not to go out … But at the same time, it’s not about us, it’s about everyone else.”

By leaving home, “you put at risk people’s parents, people’s grandparents. You put at risk your next-door neighbour who has a heart condition.”

Sonntag is realistic in understanding the effect he or others could have by carrying the virus into the community.

“I don’t want the weight of someone’s death, because of the complications of this illness, on my shoulders,” he said.