Interview with a Recovered Coronavirus Patient

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Coronavirus or COVID-19 is certainly the biggest ongoing event right now, but with only around 210,000 Americans known to have the virus, it’s hard to get a sense of what being infected is really like. The news often has patients on TV, however I'm suspicious that they pick the most sickly looking and severe cases to spotlight. To provide a more mild look at COVID-19 I spoke to a nurse who has been working for around 30 years and has already recovered from a Coronavirus infection.

In early March, this person, who wishes to remain anonymous, tested positive for the Coronavirus. This person is middle-aged and healthy with no pre-existing conditions that appear to raise the severity of COVID-19.  Doctors advised her that her symptoms should last 4-5 days, so she isolated herself within her house and prepared for the virus. The first symptom she developed was a mild sore throat followed by muscle ache, headache, and a low grade fever (around 100 degrees). Around the third or fourth day, she developed a dry cough that later became a more wet cough. The fever only lasted for 5 days, however, a few symptoms such as the cough persisted longer. At the time of the interview, about 14 days since testing positive, she still had a minor head cold and cough. At no point did she have pneumonia, difficulty breathing, or other severe health risk; so, no hospital visit was required. In the interview, she was clear that while she had the virus, her appetite remained normal and she was still able to do work on her computer. The only medication that she took was Tylenol to try and reduce the fever, she didn’t want to mask any more serious symptoms of the virus with other medication.

Along with the unique insight on this crisis of having the Coronavirus, this person has also worked as a nurse for over 30 years. She was confident that our hospitals are preparing for a surge in patients, as best they can, with the evolving situation. Hospitals are working with the CDC to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus by taking the temperature of staff before every shift, postponing most non-essential surgeries, restricting visitation, and constructing medical tents for triage.

It is important to note that while many people who are at higher risk and even some who are not have developed severe cases of COVID-19, for the majority of people these “flu-like” symptoms are as bad as it gets.

A pandemic like this occurs only once every century or so, and the last time the world was struck by one, around 50 million people died. Back then, however, we didn’t have the knowledge and resources we have now. If people in 1917 had understood and utilized social distancing, perhaps thousands, if not millions, could have survived. Because of this,even if you don’t think you will develop severe symptoms, stay indoors and keep socially distancing to  reduce the load on our hospitals and slow the spread of the virus.