The first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Cambodia on January 27th, 2020. It’s been a long two years of caution, disruption, and uncertainty. As leaders here, we’ve tried to walk the line between modeling appropriate precautions and being calm and reassuring.

This month, for the first time in a over a year, we started attended in-person church services again. It was a delight to see Catherine recognizing songs which, apparently, she thought only our family sang. She really doesn’t remember in-person church at all; a reminder of how young she was when we moved here in 2019!

Late last Monday night, we received an urgent message from the Pastor at Church that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Prior to COVID-19, we had been attending Khmer language churches but, after such a long break, we decided to try an English language service and this had been our second Sunday attending the International Christian Fellowship. Because we were new to the church we had talked to the Pastor at length and, while we had remained masked, we did not follow social distancing guidelines during our talk. So when we received notice that he had tested positive we isolated from the world for several days until we could take rapid tests (which are widely available at pharmacies here).

During our isolation, approximately 40% of our team discovered that they either had COVID-19 themselves or had a family member with COVID-19. As I’ve shared before, our team is fully vaccinated and many have received their second booster already; so most of them are having mild to no symptoms and seem on the road to a quick recovery. One exception is Pou Cheang and his wife. Pou Cheang is fully vaccinated with two boosters but is also in a high-risk category and is having a more difficult time. He is still able to remain at home, but has connected with the Department of Health and will be able taken to a treatment center if needed.

Late Friday afternoon, we took our rapid tests and they came back negative. It was a relief. On Saturday morning, we went shopping and then to Charlotte’s weekly soccer practice (which also started this month – outdoor, masked, only four kids).

There we learned that many of her peers were out because of COVID-19. We didn’t go out on Sunday and the girls didn’t have school on Monday. The school asked all students to do a rapid test before coming in on Tuesday so we did another set and… Charlotte and I tested positive for COVID-19. Catherine and Crystal came up negative.

• Charlotte is doing fine. She has mild symptoms and is generally sweet, cutting up mangos to share with the family and making ‘lemonade’ (it’s really limeade).
• I’m having moderate symptoms. Heavy congestion, coughing, and a sore throat.
• This afternoon, Catherine and Crystal started light fevers so we think they have it too. We decided to skip confirming with a rapid test – going on the notion that we have probably shared thoroughly with each other.

Please keep us in your prayers, especially Catherine who hasn’t been vaccinated at all. I finally felt like I had fully recovered from Chikungunya so it’s a bummer to get COVID-19 now. On the other hand, we are very grateful to God that we didn’t catch COVID-19 during previous years before three out of four of us were vaccinated and when we would have been placed in government treatment centers. Really, any time before now would have been more difficult – imagine if we’d gotten it while I had Chikungunya – so if we were going to get it we’re glad that it’s now.

We’re being well supported by the team here. The Office Cook, Ming Ramy, has been doing shopping for us at the local market and leaving it on our gate. Our Administrative Assistant, Doungchann, also brought us breakfast soup this morning. It was really nice for my congestion. Our Connecting Peoples Coordinator, Clivia, brought us some other groceries and supplies from the international stores.

There is a surge of COVID-19 cases in Cambodia currently due to Omicron. Most of these cases, as with our staff, are mild. As I’ve shared before, Cambodia is one of the most heavily vaccinated countries in the world and that provides protection from severe cases. There’s a sense of caution in the air but not panic, we’re not seeing hospitals or crematories fill up like they did during the outbreak that began last February.