AFTER they maintained a never-say-die attitude and pushed through with their months-long delayed wedding in 2020, newlyweds Rommel Vincent “RV” Enriquez, 29, and Mary June “MJ” Villasawa-Enriquez, 27, are facing another pandemic-induced trial in their relationship, five months into their married life.
Enriquez said he was supposed to surprise his wife with a romantic hotel dinner on their first Valentine’s Day together as a married couple, but his plans had to be put off after the couple tested positive for Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19.
Enriquez, who works as a nurse in a government-run hospital in Cebu City, is currently undergoing isolation in a facility intended for the affected staff of their hospital.
Enriquez’s wife, a journalist for a local radio station, is currently recuperating at the Cebu City Quarantine Center (CCQC).
Enriquez decided to subject himself to a swab test on Feb. 4. after contracting a fever.
He yielded a positive result on Feb. 6, and on the same day he started his isolation period in the facility managed by the hospital he works at.
As Enriquez’s close contact, his wife was swabbed on Feb. 7, shouldered by the local government unit. She underwent home isolation for four days pending her test result.
She learned that she tested positive for the virus on Feb. 10 and on the same day she was first brought to the New Normal Oasis for Adaptation and a Home (Noah) Complex at the South Road Properties before she requested a transfer to the CCQC.
Both of them are now asymptomatic while eight other members of Enriquez’s family in Danao City, whom he also had close contact with, are also undergoing home isolation and recovering from the virus.
Mary June said it helped that she learned to accept their situation though it was unexpected and truly hard at first.
It was the first time that Enriquez tested positive for the coronavirus after the regular or weekly Covid testing he underwent in his line of work.
Despite the distance between her and her husband, Mary June said isolation was not totally a bad thing.
She said her time in quarantine gave her time to conquer things she thought she could not do without her husband.
“I took this personally as well since I was very dependent on my husband. I was often accustomed to sleeping with my husband and would often wait for him before I went to sleep,” Mary June said in Cebuano.
She said her time at the isolation facility has become even harder as aside from her husband, her family can comfort her only from a distance. Her family is currently based in Negros Oriental and cannot travel to Cebu due to existing community quarantine protocols.
Despite their current situation, Mary June said she and her husband try their best to continue spending quality time with each other through video calls.
They also try their best to uplift one another.
Though they will be spending this Valentine’s Day in isolation, Enriquez said he is determined to still push through with his plans after their recovery, and make the celebration even more memorable for him and his wife.
“I always believed that challenges will always be part of our lives. But while there are challenges, there are also solutions. Despite these challenges, I continue to stay positive and trust in God. There is a reason why we are being challenged and I just trust God for it,” Enriquez added.