My friend's first hand acct of her and her husband contracting COVID-19:
"WE SURVIVED COVID-19...
On the afternoon of June 13th, [husband] woke up feeling like he was hit by a bus. He felt awful but proceeded to get ready for his night shift anyway. [Child] was hugging him goodbye and remarked that he felt warm. Took his temp and he had a fever. He called out sick that night and soon tested positive for COVID.
It was absolutely miserable. He had trouble breathing. His chest was heavy and he had shortness of breath. On top of that, his whole body ached, had fever and chills, dry coughs, and was bedridden. He works with COVID patients, so he has seen the worst cases. It was scary.
In several days, I started to get symptoms, too, although seemingly more mild. My body hurt and I was also bedridden, but I was spared the difficulty breathing. Just when I thought I was getting better, I spiked a 103.5 fever, had chills, and uncontrollable fit of dry coughs.
It was especially hard because we also had two little kids to care for. We could not send them anywhere because they could be asymptomatic carriers. We all had to stay in place together. Thankfully, our kiddos managed to stay healthy. 🙏
I share our story so that you know how awful COVID is. It is no joke. Please wear a mask and avoid large groups. Although we don’t know for sure, [husband] probably caught it at work because he didn’t go anywhere nonessential. When you go to parties, even if you’re not sick, you could be an asymptomatic carrier. You can get your elderly parents or grandparents sick and hospitalized, and then possibly pass it on to the frontline healthcare workers taking care of them. And then it gets passed to their family members. I got sick even though I have been a hermit since March. It is absolutely infuriating to see irresponsible folks acting as if this pandemic is over, and here I was, a responsible person sheltering at home for months who still got sick.
WEAR A FUCKING MASK. It’s not hard.
We feel healthy enough to function normally again, but definitely not 100%. [Husband] still feels broken. And who knows what repercussions there may be from COVID further down the road.
I’m grateful to feel better and to salvage what I have left of my summer break with my kids. I am grateful that they have each other to play with. They have been absolute troopers. Although this is undeniably the worst summer, I have to count my blessings. This happened during my break so I didn’t have to exhaust my sick time. If either of us had to go to the hospital, we have excellent health insurance coverage. During these difficult economic times, we are fortunate to have our jobs."
Stay safe, guys and girls.