By Jacqueline Howard, CNN
Submitted by Ava Smith
Updated 5:35 PM ET, Mon May 2, 2022
(CNN)Linda Timmer wanted to practice what she preached. While working at a domestic violence nonprofit in Arizona during the height of the Covid-19 summer wave in 2020, Timmer wrote pandemic policies for her workplace, encouraging her colleagues to wear masks and, if they had been exposed to the coronavirus or had symptoms, get tested. Timmer herself was not aware of being exposed or having any Covid-19 symptoms, such as cough or fever, but she started experiencing some unusual moments when she felt fatigued or forgetful, along with several episodes of confusion. “They weren’t really putting that in the list of symptoms to go get tested for,” said Timmer, now 64.That August, “the brain confusion was so unusual for me that I just thought, ‘I’m telling everyone to wear masks and follow these policies; I better go get tested, too,’ ” Timmer said. She decided to get tested for Covid-19 at a drive-up site. “I never expected to be positive,” she said, adding that she was “devastated,” because she did not want to miss work.