Hartfield woman describes, in a letter, her family’s battle with coronavirus cases
At the Middlesex County School Board (MCSB) meeting on Aug. 10, Christy Hogge of Hartfield described her family’s battle with COVID-19 in a letter read publicly to the MCSB.
The letter gave a heartfelt plea to the board to “take careful consideration before opening schools face-to-face.” The school board voted unanimously Monday, Aug. 10 to open school virtually for the first six weeks starting Aug. 31, reversing an earlier vote to open schools two days a week and two days virtually.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Aug. 18, Christy Hogge’s husband Joe Hogge said he and their son, both diagnosed with COVID-19, are back to normal and are no longer under required quarantine.
Letter to board:
Dear Middlesex County Public Schools and Community,
“We all have concerns about school and COVID-19. I want you to know I had prepared my kids for going to school for the two days face-to-face a week. I was a little worried but now I wouldn’t suggest it at all. This is our story of COVID-19.
“Our house is divided with two positive and two negative (COVID-19) results. One with horrible symptoms and one with mild. My husband (Joe) got tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, Aug. 4, because he had a fever and dizziness and two days later he tested positive.
“Then we decided that day on Thursday, Aug. 6, all of us needed to get tested. Myself and my oldest (15 years old) tested negative. But my youngest (10 years old) tested positive.
“When talking to the nurse from the health department, she asked about my son’s symptoms which at this point I didn’t think he had any at all. She asked if he had any stomach issues and I said, ‘Actually, Sunday night, Aug. 2, he said his stomach hurt, but he didn’t have a fever and the next morning he was fine, no fever and no pain.’ And then Monday night Aug. 3, the same thing happened again with no fever. Tuesday morning he was fine. I really just thought he had a gas pain or maybe he needed to try to use the bathroom.
“The nurse told me that, that could have been his first symptom. So with that being said and thinking if that was a normal school day at my house and he woke up fine without a fever, I would have sent him to school and would not have thought anything was wrong. He did not get any other signs until Saturday, Aug. 8, which was seven days later and he developed a fever.
“I would have felt so horrible if I had sent him to school and he gave this to all his classmates. Yes, his symptoms are not horrible, but what about his teachers, and his classmates parents, grandparents, and siblings at home? I would of had no clue for days to be able to tell the school.
“I want people to be aware of this and be cautious. I truly believe after going through this, it’s more real. I think kids and families will be much safer doing school virtual in my opinion.
“Another key point to this horrible virus is that once you are tested positive, the health department requires you to quarantine for 10 days and anyone living in a home that tests negative must quarantine for 24 days because the person that is positive can actually give it to others on that 10th day. So actually the person who is negative starts their 14-day quarantine on the 10th day. My family will be in quarantine a total of 24 days.
“This is a very serious virus and the scariest part is that not everyone runs a fever at the beginning or at all. Everyone has totally different symptoms. I am very worried about my husband whose symptoms are horrible and my fear is that my son may get that bad. I still don’t know as we are still going through it. Please take careful consideration before opening the school to the two day face to face for students! Thank you for your time.”
