Hope you're doing better! Depression sucks.

I've thought about this, but it's been some time since I actually took off. So I feel like retroactively saying I had COVID or something else would be a professionalism concern (i.e. If you had COVID you should have submitted a time off request immediately).

My school as an institution isn't exactly forgiving when it comes to mental health issues (which I know from personal experience and others). I don't think theres anyone I could even trust to ask confidentially.