March Monday 9th. I wake with my worse fears realised - I have a sore throat. I panic.

Hubby tells me to spray my throat with throat spray and take some cold and flu tablets as it is likely viral. I quarantine myself in my bedroom all day. Drink lots of water and continue to aggressively take medicine and spray my throat. It's a public holiday so I have a day of rest. I return to work the following day and I do not want to call in sick. My work is unique and I had to train someone specifically to do my job. There would no one there on my return to do my job, so I really needed to return. Stress, stress and more stress. I went to sleep worried I would be worse in the morning.

March Tuesday 10th. I wake up feeling better much to my surprise. My throat is still a little tender I would say, not really sore. I take medicine and spray my throat and go to work. About now you’re likely silently screaming at me that I should have stayed home but as my hubby pointed out I did not have any of the markers that pointed to the virus - in all I likely did have a viral infection. I was feeling good other than my throat and given I work in isolation some of the time (it’s only my boss and I most days - the other 5 staff are on the road) I was confident I wasn’t going to infect anyone anyway. And as my boss was now away on his own holidays - thus the reason I have to return to work as no one would have been there otherwise.

In the evening we have dinner with hubby’s mum and sister. He comes prepared with information from the WHO and the Australian Department of Health. He breaks down all the information and slowly and patiently explains to his mum the importance of self isolation. By the time we leave much later than night she is horrified at the severity of the virus and confesses she had no idea. Hubby explains he is not going to lose her (having lost his father ten years ago to illness) and he will do anything he can to protect her. 

We feel better that mum's on board and as mum does school picks up for us we put plans in place to replace mum with one of us for the interim. At this stage school are still open and the Australian Government has no plans to close them. I'm skeptical about this, if either of my kids get the virus then our chances of getting it become greater.