@Terry714 You don't seem to have absorbed anything I wrote. All a guest has to do to cancel a reservation is click on the cancel button. You don't cancel by asking the host to cancel (although of course it's polite to inform the host that you are going to cancel and why).
You didn't get a refund because you did not contact Airbnb to explain that your wife tested positive for Covid and that you needed to cancel.
And when you don't cancel, that means you still have an active reservation blocking the host's calendar, meaning they cannot rebook those dates to anyone else. So of course they would not be willing to refund you if you haven't cancelled.
What you essentially did was the equivalent of needing to return an item to a store, but instead of going to the customer service desk, you ask some lowly sales girl for a refund, and when she says she can't give you one you walk out of the store angry, blaming the girl for not refunding you.
When all you had to do was go to the customer service desk with your receipt and the item and you would have walked out with a refund or credit.
You cancelled your airline ticket by calling the airline's customer service, not some flight attendant, right? Why didn't you call Airbnb customer service to cancel your booking? The host didn't have your payment at that point, Airbnb did.
That you didn't get a refund is entirely due to you not bothering to inform yourself of how to cancel if someone in your party contracts Covid. And you don't need to wade through 50 pages of a contract to find that out. You booked through Airbnb yet you didn't contact them when you had to cancel.
All you have to do to get the cancellation information is go to the Airbnb main site Help section, type in "How to cancel as a guest if I test positive for Covid?" and you would have found the info. Or any other number of appropriate questions.
Responders here are trying to explain how to get a refund and how to cancel. We are trying to help you and you just respond with rude aggression.