A firsthand account of being infected

March 31st, 2020

By Julia Geisler, Executive Director of the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance

On March 30th, 2020, my very handsome and incredibly intuitive boyfriend, Blake Summers, was informed by the Wasatch County Health Department that he tested positive for COVID-19 on March 26th. Considering that we live together, they advised that I can assume that I am/ have also been also positive.

I want to emphasize that Blake and I are feeling fine. Our symptoms have been quite mild, and we have been physically distanced from everyone but each other for about two weeks. Blake hasn't felt any symptoms for the past three days. My symptoms are a few days behind him in the timeline and I haven’t felt symptoms for a day or two as well. We’ve been exercising regularly in the outdoors and maintaining the social/physical distance recommendations. We are set on provisions. We are monitoring our health for negative changes. We feel fortunate. 

We wanted to share our story with our community because we have unknowingly been carriers and we want others to know what that may look like from a first-hand account.

We hope that by sharing this experience, it will encourage us all to continue to do our absolute best to keep each other safe by staying home, staying local, and tamping our high-risk outdoor adventure indulgences. Please read the Empty the Crags message from us at the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance and How to Get Outside During a Pandemic from the Outdoor Alliance for considerations.

Here’s more to our story… Blake was tested at the Quinn’s Junction IHC COVID-19 tent in Park City on March 26th with symptoms of: no taste or smell, low body temps (96-97 degrees F), headache, diarrhea, fatigue, and potential exposure to positive cases. I have had a sore throat, fatigue, body aches, and headaches (the COVID fog) since about March 16th off and on. We did not, and have not, had respiratory symptoms or high fever.

When we went to the COVID-19 tent, the health care workers did not recommend that I get tested. They said that are still limited and it would not alter the advice to physically distance and isolate. They picked Blake to test because he had more of the symptoms. When we got the results yesterday, on March 30th. The Wasatch Health Department said that due to the timeline and symptoms, we are both likely on the tail end of having the virus and that we don’t need to self-quarantine, but to continue social distancing.

To the best of our knowledge, Blake was infected on March 13th when he worked at The Farm restaurant. That evening, he served a 31-person party from Australia, some of whom mentioned they weren’t feeling well. Vail closed their resorts on March 15th, including The Farm. We recently got wind that 20 of the 31 people in that group of Australians that Blake waited on were positive for the virus on or before March 29th.

Between March 16th- 20th Blake and I both started to have headaches, fatigue and mildly sore throats. We attributed these symptoms to stress from him being laid off, my guide outfitter business being at a standstill, and from the news around the world. We were still having dinner with my parents. Blake lost his sense of smell/taste on March 21st. We quickly stopped visits with my folks, sister and her boyfriend (who I think were the only people we had visited indoors with since March 14th). When we saw that loss of taste/smell was being listed as a potential COVID-19 symptom, Blake knew he had to get tested. For days the COVID-19 hotline said he wouldn’t qualify for a test and then Summit County became a hotspot. The well-run IHC drive-up test site at Quinn’s Junction tested him on the 26th without a doctor’s note or County order.

Now that we know we have been positive for COVID-19, it is startling, and also a bit of relief to know we have done our best to physically distance and sanitize everything in sight these past few weeks regardless of knowing if we were carriers or not. It’s also terrifying to think that we may have unknowingly infected someone along the way. This article in the New York Times today is telling: Infected but Feeling Fine: The Unwitting Coronavirus Spreaders.

Moving forward, Blake and I will follow the C.D.C. guidelines of not experiencing any symptoms for 72 consecutive hours before venturing into a public space. We will continue to physically distance in the outdoors, not visit indoors with our friends, exercise outside locally, sanitize surfaces daily, wipe down and wash products from the store, and of course wash our hands incessantly. I’m wearing a bandana and glasses in the grocery store. Sluffdog will continue to get more baths and wipe downs than normal as she absolutely loves seeing my Dad.

To those in health care and essential services continuing to go to work for the greater good; we have the utmost respect and appreciation for you. I’m confident that we will all get through this tough time supporting one another and hope you will continue to share your personal health stories. 

With Love & Well Wishes to You and Yours,

Julia Geisler & Blake & Sluffdog Millionaire

Photo from a better time by our friend and warrior, Louis Arevalo