I was totally prepared to quarantine for COVID-19 — and my family got it anyway
CBC Radio | Posted: May 9, 2020 4:00 AM | Last Updated: May 9, 2020
David Stevens, 54, contracted COVID-19, along with his wife
When Canada's early COVID-19 cases were identified in March, David Stevens thought he was ready for it.
Living on a 10-acre plot of land in Mono, Ont., about 100 kilometres outside Toronto, he seemed to be in a better position than most to quarantine himself and his wife, Caitlin, and two young children.
But his plan fell apart with a simple phone call.
Here's his story, as told to CBC Radio.
When the pandemic started being discussed on the news, I started prepping.
I bought about three months worth of food and loaded two freezers. I bought canned goods, dry goods, and loaded up the pantry. We got a 20-by-10 greenhouse delivered, which is up and assembled, and we are growing in it now.
I ordered chickens. (I have cancelled the chickens. We do not have them now, but it was a thought.)
I put a car turned sideways at the end of my driveway, so that nobody would drive onto the property. I even took out my firearms out and cleaned everything. I was getting ready for the zombie apocalypse — or just hunting on my own property.
It came to that because we weren't sure how far it was going to go. I said, "That's it. We're staying here. We're going to ride this out until everything is done."
We did everything we thought we needed to do. We thought we were fully prepared. I mean, we had food. We were on a well. We had the generator, we had water, we had electricity, we had food to last for months.
And then I got a phone call from my mother.
She's 73 years old and lives in Toronto. She said she didn't feel safe and that she would like to come up and stay with us.
I asked her, "Where have you been? What have you been doing? Who have you been exposed to?" And she told me she had been at home — that she hadn't gone anywhere — that she had been trying to be safe.
She wasn't exactly truthful. She'd been visiting friends in the hospital. She'd been eating in restaurants. She hadn't been staying home at all. As it turned out, in fact, she was actually still going to the casinos.
I went down to the city, I got her, and brought her back home. She sat down on my sofa, and as we were chatting, I looked at her and I suddenly realized: she's sick. I could already see it, I could see the start.
Three days later, I drove my mother back to her home in Toronto. But soon after, my wife started feeling lethargic and had a very low-grade fever.
The next day it started for me. I was lethargic for about three or four days — I mean really lethargic. I could get out of bed and I could walk to the kitchen table, and then I was beat.
My six-year-old started coughing, but had no fever. With my two-year-old, there were no signs anything was wrong whatsoever.
In the meantime, my mother kept going downhill. I visited her in Toronto, and she could barely stay conscious. I realized she hadn't been eating anything. So I called 911.
He basically said to her that it was her choice if she chose to stay, but if she stayed she was going to pass away. - David Stevens
She told me she didn't want to go, but thankfully, the paramedics were great. There was a gentleman whose name I'm sorry I didn't get.
He basically said to her that it was her choice if she chose to stay, but if she stayed she was going to pass away. She was not going to survive this. So she said she wanted to go to the hospital. That was it. He came in strong, and I thanked him.
At the hospital, they evaluated her. She ended up being tested and, sure enough, tested positive.
After a few days, she was sent home to finish recovering. Back at my home, my own family and I were also slowly getting better.
Looking back, I was a little disappointed with myself for taking the chance and exposing my kids and my wife to COVID-19. It was completely my fault for allowing somebody into my home — even though, of course, it was my own mother.
If I were to do it all over again, I probably wouldn't have allowed her to come here, and instead, I would have just delivered food to her, put it on her doorstep, as opposed to having her in the house.
When I go out now, I honestly do feel a little bit like Superman — that nothing can affect me. But I'm no fool. So I still glove up, I still wash my hands, I still strip clothes and toss them into the washing machine if I think I've been exposed to people or things.
I was in the city just yesterday, because I had to come in for business. I came in, did what I had to, and dodged back out.
I do miss ethnic foods, great restaurants, concerts and things. But beyond that, I am happy to stay on my little parcel of paradise.
This Happened to Me: COVID-19 is a video series from CBC Radio featuring the stories of Canadians who have battled the coronavirus.