Fredericton — With COVID cases continuing to rise steadily across the province, and Public Health largely washing their hands of the situation, there are many people forced to make tough calls this week.
29-year-old Thomas Cannon is one of those people.
After breaking up with his long-term girlfriend back in December of 2019, he didn’t expect to have to wait nearly two years to start playing the field again.
“I’m going to be honest with you, it’s been a lonely year and a half,” he told The Manatee. “I thought it was safe to try dating again, and…well, I guess I just got careless.”
After meeting 26-year-old Emma Spatt on a dating app last week, he swiped right and saw her last Monday for a coffee. Since that time, he learned that he had COVID, and could have potentially passed it off to her.
“Oh-kay. Let’s do it,” he said, nervously tapping her name in his contacts list. “Tear off the band-aid.”
There were three short rings. Finally, a young woman’s voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Hi — Emma? It’s me, Thomas. Thomas Cannon, from…from the other night,” he said, wincing.
There was a brief pause.
“Oh. Thomas. Hi,” she said, sounding surprised. “I have to admit, I didn’t expect to hear from you again, considering…you know, the premature– “
“I have COVID,” said Thomas, curtly.
There was an even longer pause on the other end of the line. When she did reply, it was a single word.
“Oh.”
Thomas cut back in, speaking quickly.
“I know you said you were fully vaccinated, and so was I, but I still thought…well, I thought you should know,” he said, stopping only to swallow the excess spit that had accumulated in his mouth.
“You know what they say — if you come into close contact with someone, you’ve come into close contact with everybody that person has come into close contact with.”
“They do say that,” said Emma, quietly. “Well, I mean, I appreciate your calling, but…wow. Okay.”
Thomas again expressed his deepest apologies, and Emma seemed to have appreciated his situation by the time the phone call came to an end.
“Oh, one more thing,” she said, quickly. “You should probably get tested for chlamydia.”
“Wait, what?” Thomas asked, but the line was already dead.