JSU student recounts her experience with COVID-19

By Angela Brown
MC301 Student

Erin Farmer, a junior criminal justice major from Little Rock, Ark., tested positive for COVID-19 while staying near campus for the fall 2020 semester.

With COVID-19 being a current health concern, school campuses across the country have enforced specific COVID-19 procedures to ensure the safety of staff and students.

For the current school year, Jackson State University’s Safe Plan limited the number of occupants staying in residence halls, offered online courses, increased sanitation stations and even created different procedures for students that may test positive for COVID-19 while staying on campus.

Dr. Jones, the director of the JSU Health Center, explained that the plan of action for students who test positive for COVID-19 varies from students who may have just been around someone with COVID-19.

“There are isolation rooms for the person who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 while quarantining is for those who have not tested positive but have been in close contact with someone with COVID-19,” said Jones.

Jones added that isolation rooms have their own bathroom and that food is delivered to the students. Students are required to be free of any symptoms such as coughing or a fever to be released from the isolation rooms.

Farmer, who stays in the One University Place Apartment Complex across from Jackson State’s Student Center, said she did not report her case to JSU. She explained that she still followed the Centers for Disease Control guidelines and quarantined in her room for almost 10 days.

Farmer discovered she had COVID-19 after a night out at Olive Garden.

“The day after Labor Day, which was a Tuesday, I went out to Olive Garden and after eating my salad, I could not taste anything and thought maybe it’s just me. Then I ate my pasta and licked the sauce, and I still could not taste anything,” said Farmer.

Once she realized something was wrong, Farmer decided to get tested at TrustCare in Jackson, Miss., and received her positive results 30 minutes after taking the test.

Although Farmer tested positive for COVID-19, she was asymptomatic, meaning that even though the infection was present in her body, she had few to little symptoms.

“My experience with COVID was not as bad as others, because I was asymptomatic almost, the only two symptoms I had were no taste and no smell. The no taste was the worst thing ever because you were just eating food and could not taste anything,” said Farmer.

While dealing with COVID-19 and stuck in quarantine, Farmer had plenty of support from family members and friends.

“I had a lot of help from everybody, my family called and checked on me every day, and I had the best friends. I live on the second floor of my building and they brought things to my door and I would go pick it up,” said Farmer.

Anaiah Evans, a junior communicative disorders major from Memphis, Tenn., and the current 2020-2021 Student Government Association Vice President, was one of many that stopped by to encourage Farmer.

“I helped by encouraging the student and making sure that she was okay. I brought soup, Gatorade, and snacks to keep her mind off of it, and a card to just say I support you and that you are cared for,” said Evans.

Once Farmer completed quarantine, she tested negative for COVID-19 but still has a weak sense of smell.

Jackson State University offers a daily COVID-19 test on campus and students or staff can receive their test results back within 15 minutes. Contact the Health Center if you feel that you need to be tested.