We could feel it circling, coming closer. The week before, someone in year 3 tested positive. Then it was year 4. And a second one. On the app, numbers were up, and up again.

Finally, 8 days ago, my daughter tested positive. Lateral flow test, which is known to have false positves, and false negatives, basically isn’t that trustworthy. OK, so we did another one. About one minute later, we got the dreaded double line again. Drat. I called school, and I told the anwering machine that she wouldn’t be there today, not until we knew for certain one way or the other.

That afternoon, we went to a walk-in test center. We came armed with QR codes and masks, so they shooed us into a white cubicle smelling strongly of antiseptic. I helped my daughter take her test - the tonsil swab never goes down well - and we all delivered the kits to the friendly staff/volunteers. They warned us that things were very busy so we were likely to have to wait a few days.

Since we didn’t know one way or the other, we decided to act as if it was, and so we started implementing Plague Protocol, where we left the windows open as much as humanly possible, wore masks when approaching the little person, and she started wearing masks too. She got her food served separately. It felt weird, and stilted - she’s eight, old enough to understand, but young enough to feel a bit sad at being excluded from some daily activities.

Fortunately, the school sent us homework. Also, while we obviously knew they had a new case in year 4, the school app omitted to message parents about it, which makes it very likely that the numbers had crossed the PR threshold into “many, we don’t like to talk about it”. The whole parents evening got postponed to next term.

At lunch the next day, a lady of Track and Trace called me. We had a nice chat about where we’d been, who we’d hung out with, and that we definitely needed to be careful now. Weirdly, Joe and I, being fully vaccinated, were free to mingle as long as we tested negative.

Fortunately, while the little person was very decidedly testing positive, the virus didn’t really seem to affect her beyond incubation. She hopped around, sung, mixed potions, stuck gems on things and generally did all the things she usually did.

I continued working from home, but Joe took her schooling in hand. I bought FFP3 masks, more hand sanitizers, and antiseptic wipes were applied liberally. The windows were kept open as much as possible, October or not, and we all jumpered up. Days creeped by at an incredibly slow pace. Looking out, we saw people doing things, knowing that for these very few very long days, we were not joining them.

We all tested, nearly every day. The small person continued to test positive, but on the bright side we stayed negative.

Weekend, finally - we decided to buy tons of craft stuff, planning for tedium - it felt a bit like another lockdown, only we were the only ones in it. I made cupcakes with the little person (icing of all the colours!), we didn’t do much but days still progressed. Then, on Sunday, the T line in the lateral flow test was ever so slightly fainter - but still there. The virus was taunting us, the bastard.

Yesterday, finally, after another rummage in her nostrils, the dreaded T line stayed absent! We kept up protocol for one more day, because we definitely didn’t want to catch it because of false negatives. Another 10 days of self-isolation to add to the first 8 felt like a bit too much of a good thing.

Worrying thought: we have no idea how long she was positive before the test - the last test was a few weeks at least, and she showed no symptoms at any point - she could have been merrily spreading it for days or weeks, for all we know.

Another thought, more positive: even with the Plague Protocol in place, there is no way we didn’t breathe in some COVID. It speaks for the efficacy of the vaccine that neither of us caught it. Long live science!