Respiratory Illness During COVID-19 Outbreak

It was certainly interesting coming down with a respiratory illness during the COVID-19 (or coronavirus) outbreak. While at past times I would have just assumed it was a bad cold, this time I wondered if I might have been one of the ones infected with the coronavirus, along with a friend of mine who got sick just before I did. I wonder how many others are out there like us, who got sick with what they thought was a bad cold or flu but actually had the coronavirus infection.

On Monday, March 9^th, a close friend of mine got sick while he was at work. He ended up leaving early that day. He later told me that he had a major financial emergency and needed a cash deposit into his account that day. He also wanted some cold medicine. After a doctor appointment I had scheduled that afternoon and after stopping by the store to get the cold medicine, I stopped by my bank’s ATM to get the amount of cash he needed. I then went to his house to get his debit card and to give him his cold medicine. Once I got his card and PIN, I drove to his bank’s ATM to deposit the cash. I then went back to his house to give him his debit card. We visited for a few minutes, and then I went home. I tend to get very dry eyes, and I try to coax moisture back into them by massaging my eyelids. I wonder if I might have done that on the way home from my friend’s house, after handling his debit card.

The next day, my friend still felt sick, so he went to the doctor. He tested negative for the flu, but the doctor gave him a steroid shot and other medication to take to treat his symptoms. He was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. That day, I started coughing. It was a dry cough, and I had no other symptoms, so I thought it was related to my grass pollen allergies. I had just started taking a daily antihistamine. For the rest of that day and most of the following day, I had the cough and no other symptoms. However, Wednesday evening, I started feeling sick. I felt like I was getting a fever and slight chills. Later that evening, I decided to stay home the next day and sent a leave request to my supervisor. I felt pretty miserable when I went to bed that night. I knew there was no way I could go to work the next day.

Thursday morning, it took some major willpower for me to get out of bed because I certainly didn’t feel like it. I forced myself to get up and feed Cocoa. I then stretched out on the futon in my “game room” to watch TV. I had some very slight body aches, and the cough continued. I was also very fatigued and nauseous. I felt slightly feverish. When I got up to fix myself something to eat or to move around for other reasons, I did feel a little better. Because the spreading of the coronavirus had started to become a really big issue, I decided to call my doctor to see if I needed to be tested. I explained that I was around a friend of mine who had been diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, but I had not been around anyone who had come back from out of the country, and I had not been out of the country myself. I had also to my knowledge not been around anyone else who was sick. My doctor’s office gave me a toll-free number to call, and the recording said that if symptoms were manageable to stay home and self-treat until they improve. I sent a leave request for the following day to my supervisor and decided to stay home until I had to go out, which would be Sunday afternoon for my weekly grocery shopping trip.

Friday, I felt a little better but still found it difficult to get out of bed. I felt feverish for part of the day, but it eventually went away. I was still coughing quite a bit, but I was definitely feeling better. I wasn’t nauseous like I was the previous day. In addition to watching TV, I was also trying to keep up with news at work and found out that we were to work from home for at least the next two weeks. I was relieved because I didn’t have to worry about being around my co-workers at a time that might possibly be too soon after I got sick. I continued to get better the rest of that day and over the weekend. I felt well enough to go to the store to do my grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon, but I didn’t go anywhere else.

My friend was out of work that entire week. His fever didn’t break for a few days, and he had breathing issues. When I found out more about his symptoms, I began wondering if he and I had been infected with the coronavirus. It was really hard to tell by reading about the virus online and comparing it to the cold and flu, as symptoms greatly overlapped. I also never had shortness of breath or any other breathing issues. The only way to know for sure was to be tested, but I didn’t want to expose myself to others unnecessarily when I might still be contagious. Also, I thought the tests would be better used by those who were very ill. My symptoms were manageable and didn’t need medical attention. Doctors probably wouldn’t have tested me anyway. I don’t think my friend’s doctor was testing for it at the time he went.

I found out through friends and reading online that there are people who were sick with supposedly bad cold and flu symptoms from December until things with the coronavirus really began to hit the news in our area. After reading about their experiences and talking with a few on social media, I started becoming even more convinced that my friend and I were infected with the coronavirus. This article seems to confirm our suspicions. I’m hopeful that he, I, and others can find out through antibody testing whether or not we were truly infected. Hopefully this sort of testing will become widespread soon so that we can all find out the truth about our illnesses and also the true scope of the coronavirus pandemic.

More than two weeks have passed since my friend and I got sick. We’re both doing much better now, and I’m coughing less and less. We’re both following the coronavirus news coverage closely. My hope is that testing and treatment will improve, and fewer and fewer new cases will emerge. I also hope that we can all get back to our normal lives soon. I hope the health care workers and others out there who are putting themselves at risk will have what they need to protect themselves and the ones with whom they come into contact. My thoughts and prayers are definitely with with all of us, as we’re all being affected in some way by this pandemic!

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