Emily Hengehold, a University of Idaho sophomore, first arrived on campus Aug. 9. That night, she discovered she had a fever. She was immediately moved into her sorority’s quarantine space, then quickly shuffled to a hotel, struggling to find on-campus housing that was safe. Four days later, she received a positive test for the coronavirus, and “a million doors opened.”
Q: When did you first think you had COVID-19?
A: “I came up on Aug. 9 to unpack in DG (Delta Gamma) and was in here for probably all of three to four hours before I finally spiked a fever and was like, ‘O.K., I don’t know if I’m hot from just moving my bins in or if there’s something going on’. So, I took my temperature and had a 100 point something, just barely a fever. So, I texted DG’s president and she put me right in the quarantine room. Literally day one getting here and hours after, it was so frustrating.”
Q: How long did it take for you to get your results?
A: “I got tested on the morning of Aug. 10 and I think it was four or five days. I had just checked out of my third hotel room because they were booked again, and I was driving around waiting to figure out what to do and it came around 4 p.m. on Aug. 14. I had called Gritman and U of I and everyone I could think of and got so many different stories. I called the lab the night of Aug 13… (They said) they had to send all of their swabs to Seattle and that it would be another week and a half. I don’t think they were all on the same page, which was frustrating. It was fine but it definitely could’ve been faster, especially since it was the 24 – 48 hours you will have your results they were pretty insistent on.”
Q: How did UI accommodate you before you got your results?
A: “They did not do anything. I think they put the responsibility on your own campus housing, so, in this case, DG. We even tried to get me into the dorms just to wait for my results since it was taking so long. It was like the second I got that positive result it opened so many doors and suddenly they would talk to me and answer my calls, but before that, it was just kind of like ‘sorry we can’t do anything before you have a positive test result’. It was frustrating, but also, I get that they don’t have the resources to accommodate every single person who’s quarantining or been exposed. They expected DG to either provide some sort of quarantine area or I think I was supposed to assume any expenses if they weren’t able to provide it. They just kind of were like figure it out, deal with it on your own.”
Q: How did UI accommodate you after you got your results?
A: They were awesome. I think I got calls from eight or nine different people like the Health Department, the housing people, the food people, there were so many phone calls of people checking in just to make sure everything was going well. It was literally like that positive test result was the key to everything and suddenly they were paying attention to me and helping. After that positive test result, it was very diligent and detailed when checking in. Even throughout the five days that I was in there, they would call me, and there was a symptom tracker that they’d text me every day and I’d fill it out. They definitely were on top of it once I got that result. They were capable, they just weren’t as helpful before the fact.”
Q: What were the quarantine dorms like?
A: “It was a dorm. I don’t think it’s been used in a while because it was kind of gross and dirty, there were bugs in my room. The bed was one of those blue camping mattresses and they gave me these thin little top sheets to put down and a quilt. The pillow was pretty thin. Luckily, I had brought my own blanket with me and that was my lifesaver. They had a little kitchenette that they kept stocked. They didn’t deliver food to your door; you were kind of just free reign. You’d go down with a mask and they had breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day which was super nice. It was good, I was definitely well fed. I’m sure I could’ve walked outside if I wanted. They didn’t really say anything about it, but I just opened my window, there were huge windows. I had the fresh air which was nice.”
Q: What did your sorority do in response?
A: “I spent two days in the quarantine room in DG and the sorority president reserved a sink and shower for me, but I was still kind of in the population so that’s when she moved me into the hotel. I was in the hotel for three days, but it was in the middle of the boys’ recruitment so every room was booked, and I had to move hotel rooms the first night and then to a whole new hotel the next day. I didn’t have to pay for anything, thank God, DG definitely went out of their way to make sure that I was accommodated.”
Q: Do you feel the university was well-prepared and handled your situation appropriately?
A: “I go back and forth, I think they definitely had the plan in place to test everyone and do all that, but I also think a lot of it was for looks. Yes, they tested everyone which was amazing, but the whole three-week window to get tested…in theory it’s great, but in practice I think it’s kind of ineffective because I could’ve got tested on the 9th but got infected later that week, but still have the negative test to go to class. I think they did what they could with the circumstances. I get you can’t test everyone constantly, but I think that’s more of the fault of the slow testing, not necessarily the university.”
“I think they handled my situation appropriately, yeah. I mean it would’ve been awesome if they could’ve helped out with the prepositive result, but after the fact ten out of ten I think they did the best with what they had.”
Q: Based on your experience, how do you see UI going forward?
A: “I hope we don’t close down soon. I’m a positive thinker, I like to be hopeful, but I don’t know. I think we’re in a good situation being in Moscow which is a smaller town, and I mean it’s not like we’re posing some huge risk to a big city. It’s so contagious and spreads so fast, but then again, I was living with a friend when I would’ve been infected, and she never tested positive. There’s something maybe to be said for our age group and how it’s so much less likely to have it hard, which I think is a positive thing for our circumstances. I’ve been saying if we make it a month from now, we’ll be good till Thanksgiving because I don’t think they’d send us home with only a month left, but that’s also just us being positive.”
Story by Elizabeth Holdridge
Photos by Nataly Davies
Design by Nataly Davies