MINNEAPOLIS — COVID-19 altered life in countless ways in 2020. For two Minnesota couples, the pandemic began with an altered vacation, permanently changing their perspective on the year that followed.
Stan Herman and Barb Harris, of Minnetonka, say they don't take their home isolation for granted after spending weeks isolated on the Grand Princess cruise ship in March.
Barb Harris: "There's not much to do at home."
Stan Herman: "But it's still more fun than it was on the cruise. It was the same as being stuck in your walk-in closet for a month."
Before the couple returned to Minnesota, they spent weeks worried about growing cases aboard the cruise ship, followed by uncertainty and fear as they were evacuated to a military base and quarantined.
Weeks prior, Ron Hildeen and Amy Ellefson, of Eden Prairie, found themselves in a similar situation on the Diamond Princess cruise off the coast of Japan.
Just before the couple was scheduled to arrive back on land, they were placed on lockdown in their cabins. They were eventually flown back the United States on a converted cargo plan and bused to a military base for two weeks of quarantine. By the time they returned home, more than 700 people on the cruise had tested positive and 14 people had died.
Ron Hildeen: "We were in situations where we couldn't say, 'No, we're not going to do this.' I mean, we're on the boat and they say, 'wear your mask and social distance and don't walk on the deck.' What's our alternative? Dive off?"
The couple say they learned from their experience and maintained a cautious approach as the pandemic caught up to them in Minnesota. They have followed guidance for masking and largely stayed home in the months that followed.
Amy Ellefson: "We're very happy to be home."
Ron Hildeen: "Yeah, and we've had no illness."
Unfortunately, Barb Harris wasn't so fortunate during her return from the Grand Princess.
Barb Harris: "I ended up having it. I didn't know. After we had been home five days, I got a call from the Minnesota Department of Health. They tested us right before we came home (from the military base) but it took five or six days to get the results."
Though she says she was likely exposed in transit from the ship to their quarantine site, Barb says she's grateful she followed precautions and others, including Stan, tested negative.
Stan Harmon: "Compared to the experiences that others have had, it was kind of like nothing. There has been so many horror stories of people who have caught the virus and their families and what it has done to them, because it was... looking back at it, it could have been a whole lot worse."
For both couples, some of the worst days they experienced this year, came long after they returned home.
Amy Ellefson: "I think we lived through a period of depression or anxiety in September into October, when things started to get worse again. Because we really thought it would be better by then. Now we're back to square one. One day at a time."
Stan Harmon: "The hardest part of all of this is watching people politicize things like the wearing of the masks. To us, you do everything you can to isolate yourselves and do everything that's safe. You don't want to infect anybody else."
Despite their frustrations with how far we still have to go, the couples say they're both hopeful in the vaccine and grateful for their relationships.
Barb Harris: "We're lucky."
Stan Harmon: "I'll tell you, without Barb, it would have been a very lonely year."
Barb Harris: "It would have."
Stan Harmon: "At least we have each other."