Anastasia just wants to go to the gym.

She and her roommate, who will be referred to as “K” for privacy reasons, go to the IMA almost every day to workout — Anastasia likes deadlifts and hip thrusts and her roommate loves squats. But they haven’t been able to go for days now because they’re self-isolating in their West Campus dorm, trying to avoid contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Last week, K worked on an assignment over a meal with the Lander Hall resident who was the second UW student to test positive for the coronavirus, which has eight confirmed cases in the university community, as of Sunday.

A day or two later the Lander Hall resident started developing symptoms and called K on Friday to tell her the test had come back positive. Anastasia panicked a little when she heard the news.

“Thinking back to all the contact I had with my roommate and stuff, I was like ‘uhh so what am I supposed to do,’” Anastasia said, noting they share food, go to the gym together, go to class together, and live together. “If she had a contact with the [student with the virus] we can’t say I’m safe either.”

Having previously decided to not leave their dorm as much, Anastasia and her roommate immediately decided to hunker down for about a week — people with the virus can develop symptoms up to 14 days after contact and the average is five to six days.

She says it’s been difficult not to blame her roommate for going out with her now-coronavirus positive friend even though she knows it’s not going to help anything.

“It’s hard cause we are friends and we can’t blame each other but still some thoughts like ‘why me, why us, why my friend’ get in my mind sometimes,” Anastasia said.

This is increasingly the experience for many students at the UW as the confirmed coronavirus cases on campus rise and the number of people they’ve come in contact with multiply. Even the Lander Hall resident who has tested positive for the virus is quarantining in the dorms, per public health protocols, according to UW spokesperson Victor Balta.

The risk of transmission in the UW cases is considered low, however.

While neither has experienced any symptoms, Anastasia and K called Hall Health to get tested for the virus and were directed elsewhere, but were told they couldn’t get tested because they didn’t have direct contact with the Lander Hall resident with COVID-19 after the student started developing symptoms March 11.

Anastasia says she understands there are limited resources, but thinks the health care system can do better. Neither Anastasia nor K have experienced symptoms. At this point, they’re just waiting to see if any develop. Their third roommate is staying with a nearby relative.

Originally from South Korea, Anastasia added that her home country is doing a much better job testing people for the virus than the United States. Within weeks of the outbreak’s start in China, South Korea had developed capacity for more than 10,000 tests per day and has now tested about 250,000 people while the United States has fallen behind.

She’s not as worried about the risk to her personally from the virus, but more that she could spread it to other people with weaker immune systems without even knowing it.

Anastasia has only left their tight — under 300 square foot — triple dorm room to go to Lander Desk to pick up Amazon packages with food in them. Anastasia isn’t worried about going there, as the desk has stopped the exchange of Husky cards to pick up mail, instead using a swipe system to reduce contact, and all the employees wear masks. K has ventured out only to get more reusable and disposable surgical masks, but not the N95 variety which block most airborne particles but are almost impossible to find now.

That being said, Anastasia said her friend in Canada is sending her two N95 masks.

They’ve been making all their food in their dorm from what they’ve ordered online, stocking up on flour, bread, noodles, as well as frozen dumplings and chicken breasts. Anastasia might order a carton of egg whites.

They have an electric pan, pressure cooker, and a microwave to cook the food; Anastasia is thinking of vlogging her cooking.

She said that the isolation is boring and it’s thrown their sleep schedules into disarray, so much so that it’s been hard to even track what day it is and get work done as finals approach. Anastasia said they go to bed around 7 a.m.

“We just eat whenever, sleep whenever, it’s a mess,” Anastasia said. “Trying to entertain myself with cooking that I was never into.”

Anastasia still thinks people should isolate and distance themselves from others to stop the spread of the pandemic that’s been compared to the 1918 Spanish Flu.

“I think it’s good to have some kind of anxiety so that people can prepare and prevent in advance,” she said.

Spring quarter classes will be online until at least late April, but Anastasia is planning to stay in Seattle. She doesn’t think she’ll go out nearly as much as she used to, but what’s the one place she’ll be going?

“I can’t wait to go to [the gym],” she said. “That’s the only thing I’m looking forward to honestly cause I still gotta be careful.”

Reach News Editor Jake Goldstein-Street at news@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet

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