Coronavirus survivor from US shares how to handle the pandemic

A US woman who recovered from COVID-19 shared her story on social media urging everyone to get tested as soon as possible in case of slightest of symptoms. Elizabeth Schneider, a Seattle resident, said that overall lack of “early and pervasive testing” damaged the public’s ability to avoid the illness.

The 37-year-old, who has a PhD in bioengineering, believed she caught the deadly virus while attending a small house party where no one was coughing, sneezing or otherwise displaying any symptoms of illness. She said that 40 per cent of people present at the party fell sick within three days with similar symptoms including fever.

“The media tells you to wash your hands and avoid anyone with symptoms. I did. There is no way to avoid catching this except avoiding all other humans,” wrote Elizabeth.

Symptoms differ

The coronavirus survivor said that the symptoms appear to be different depending on one’s immunity and/or age. She had a fever that spiked the first night to 103 degrees Fahrenheit and had headache, severe body aches and joint pain. Elizabeth said that some of the contracted patients were left with nasal congestion, sore throat.

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According to Elizabeth, very few had chest tightness or other respiratory symptoms and the total duration of illness was 10-16 days. She said that she didn’t even go to the doctor because she was recovering on her own and felt it was just a nasty flu strain different from the ones she has been protected from with the season’s flu vaccine.

Elizabeth said that the lack of testing is leading to people believing that they just have a cold and going out into public and spreading it. “The main issue is that without reporting a cough or trouble breathing many of us were refused testing,” she wrote.

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Over 1,25,000 coronavirus cases have been reported globally to the World Health Organisation (WHO) which has declared it as a pandemic. WHO Director-General said that describing it as a pandemic does not mean that countries should give up. “The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press briefing on March 12.

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