"I was a gig economy employee with a virus who couldn't afford to self-isolate"
Many years ago, I was at a house party in San Francisco when I began to feel distinctly unwell, headachy, and woozy, and icy cold despite the sweaty heat created in a crowded room in winter.
By the time I returned home, I was barely functional, and spent a hideous, feverish night drifting in and out of hallucinatory dreams, shivering and aching, head pounding. By morning, the fever had broken and I was weak, but much better, and grateful for a long weekend of rest before returning midweek to my freelance teaching job at a Bay Area college.