“It was hard to be alone. I was devastated, and I couldn’t believe this was happening,” she admitted, noting she was held up in her hotel room alone for almost 12 hours. “I was looking out the window of my hotel room and saw everybody walk to practice, and I was stuck there (in my hotel room). It was mentally really hard.”
Once [her mom] arrived in Vegas, the two were escorted out of the Orleans Hotel by hotel staff, using a separate elevator and door from those in the bubble. They were then sent to a different hotel twenty minutes away, where U.S. Figure Skating had arranged rooms for athletes, coaches and officials in the event that anyone tested positive. The next day, Rydberg and Koris drove back to Colorado Springs. Showing no apparent symptoms, Rydberg took another COVID-19 test Jan. 13 during her trip home, stopping in a town in Utah. She received a negative result the next day.
“I actually got the email when I was sitting on my couch, watching the ladies short program,” Rydberg mentioned. “That was really hard. To be sitting on my couch in the (Colorado) Springs, with the negative test result in my hands, while all my friends are out there competing.”
“They (U.S. Figure Skating) had to follow protocol, so I couldn’t really question it. I just had to do what they said,” she added.
After being advised by a doctor, Rydberg took another COVID-19 test Jan. 15, which also came back negative.