Family gets COVID for Christmas, but 'it still feels like a little party'
CBC
On Christmas morning, musician Owen O'Sound Lee could hear the familiar sound of his children's excited footsteps overhead, but that's as close as he could get.
The Toronto-born songwriter and producer, who now lives in Nova Scotia, tested positive for COVID-19 using a rapid test on Christmas Eve and quickly retreated to his basement to self-isolate, hoping his wife and five kids wouldn't get infected.
He experienced the magic of Christmas morning from behind his cellphone screen.
"My kids are opening [gifts] and running to the camera screen to say, 'Daddy, look!'" Lee said. "It was so different, so awkward … it made me feel like I'm away but I'm not."
Lee is one of thousands of Nova Scotians who's tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks as the highly contagious Omicron variant spreads. He suspects that's the version of the virus that he caught.
About 15 people are in hospital for COVID-19 in the province.
Over the weekend, Lee shared his family's COVID Christmas story on Twitter because he wants to destigmatize testing positive.
"I just feel like there's a lot of stigma and a lot of fear around COVID … especially for those who may not have had to deal with it within their own home," he said.
Lee, who is double vaccinated, said he started feeling ill on the evening of Dec. 23.
At first, he was shivering and within a few hours was feeling unusually tired. He didn't have an appetite and went to bed much earlier than usual.
The next morning he felt even worse so he took a rapid test.
"I saw the two lines and I picked up the phone," he said. "The first person I called was my wife. The second people I called were … coworkers and co-performers and just saying, 'Hey, guys, here's the situation.'"
Next, Lee said he notified Public Health and was told to isolate. The province has been advising anyone who receives a positive result using a rapid test to treat the result as a confirmed positive case of COVID.
He spent Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day alone in his basement, but then his wife and two of his kids also tested positive.
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