MINNEAPOLIS — It's hard to go out and find love, when it's hard to go out in the first place. Dating is not easy, especially right now. I think we can all agree that it just got harder by a factor of ten. Or 19. Like COVID-19.
However, I did manage to find one person who against all odds is in the process of dating. Anne Koebele says she decided to go on a date with a woman named Beth about a month and a half ago.
"I wouldn't call her my partner...yet," Koebele said over Zoom with a smile. "I laugh because I almost canceled our date, because I wasn't sure. We ended up hitting it off right away."
Koebele says that around four dates in, with the pandemic in full swing, she started to feel unwell.
"We actually were kind of quarantined for a few days at her place," Koebele said. "I was feeling kind of sick and didn't know if I should leave. So we just kind of spent a lot of time together pretty much right off the bat, so it was kind of crazy to get to know someone that quickly."
It was a true test to the relationship that they both passed with flying colors. Unluckily, Koebele found out the hard way that she probably has COVID-19. She said she felt so sick last Friday that she had to be taken to the hospital by an ambulance. On Sunday she said she had to go back for severe pain in her chest.
She said the hospital staff told her the tests were being reserved for healthcare workers and those who are on ventilators. However, because they had ruled the flu and pneumonia out, she presumed that she was COVID-19 positive.
"It really hit yesterday, you do feel extremely alone and you kind of want your mom there or your partner there. Or someone there," she said.
So Koebele is quarantined once more, this time by herself. She said her dates with Beth now consist of just videochats and watching Netflix together (virtually).
She said she does wonder, how people who have yet to meet even a date are doing right now.
"What are people actually doing? I feel like once this is over everyone is going to be out wanting to meet people," she said.
"It will be interesting because it will be like, 'Am I happy to see you because I like you? Or am I happy to see you because you're just another human being?'" I joked.
"That's a valid point," Koebele said. "I hope that's not the case for either of us."
She added that when the pandemic passes, her relationship with Beth will be pushed in other ways.
"Do we like the same activities? Seeing their friends, my friends..." she said. "It will definitely be a different situation."
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