If anyone can speak to the headache that is COVID-19, it’s the Craig and Amanda Petersen family
By Per Peterson
As if moving a family of five wasn’t stressful enough, Craig and Amanda Petersen had to do so while dealing with a pandemic that took its toll on their very own family.
The Petersens, still acclimating to new surroundings in their home near Garvin Park, could be considered somewhat of a COVID-19 poster family. Four members of the clan — Amanda, Kamryn, Braxton and Tyson — were all at one time afflicted with the virus. Only dad Craig and Logan have so far been spared.
“Luckily we didn’t have to deal with people being very sick during the move, where we had to take care of them and try to move at the same time,” Craig said.
“We didn’t plan to move during this time — it just kind of worked out that way,” added Amanda.
Fifteen-year-old Kamryn, a sophomore at Tracy Area High School and senior member of the Petersen kids, was the first of the family to get COVID-19, way back during the holiday season.
“We were good from September, all the way to Thanksgiving,” Craig said.
Kamryn was none too happy to contract the virus when she did.
“It was kind of depressing because it was Thanksgiving,” she said. “I couldn’t taste anything, but other than that I was pretty much fine. It was weird because when I showered I couldn’t smell my hair. I couldn’t taste my toothpaste. I still can’t smell as much as I used to, but I can taste fine.”
Kamryn added that it still seems weird that she had the disease, but she is grateful that there was no school in session when she got sick.
“Everybody was out then, but if it was just me, I think it would’ve probably been harder,” she said.
Craig, who works as a plant coordinator at ADM in Marshall, said he has tested six or seven times because of work, including back when Kamryn was diagnosed. No one from the family tested positive right away after Kamryn’s diagnosis.
“She wasn’t isolated or anything,” Amanda said.
“I’m like, ‘What the heck?’” Craig said. “We’ve got six people running around in our old house and there’s a lot less room there. How in the world did none of us get it back then? I guess I’m not concerned about getting it. If I get it, I get it. Just by what everybody in the house had, I’m not too worried about if it’s gonna be worse for me.”
Craig wasn’t the only one who wanted to get it over with.
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.