I had COVID-19 and here is my
story. I made this post public
out of several requests from my
friends who asked me to share.
I hope it gives you some good
information and peace of mind!
First how easily you can get it. I
believe I caught it when attending a
small house party at which no one
was coughing, sneezing or otherwise
displaying any symptoms of illness. It
appears that 40% of the attendees of
this party ended up sick. 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.
40% of folks were all sick within 3
days of attending the party all with
the same/similar symptoms including
fever.
Second, the symptoms appear to be
different depending on your consti-
tution and/or age. Most of my friends
who got it were in their late 40s to
early 50s. I’m in my mid 30s. For
us it was headache, fever (for first 3
days consistently and then on and off
after 3 days), severe body aches and
joint pain, and severe fatigue. I had a
fever that spiked the first night to 103
degrees and eventually came down to
100 and then low grade 99.5. Some
folks had diarrhea. I felt nauseous
one day. Once the fever is gone some
were left with nasal congestion, sore
throat. Only a very few of us had a
mild itchy cough. Very few had chest
tightness or other respiratory symp-
toms. Total duration of illness was
10-16 days. The main issue is that
without reporting a cough or trouble
breathing many of us were refused
testing. I got tested through the Seat-
tle Flu Study. This is a RESEARCH
study here in Seattle and they have
been testing volunteers for strains of
the flu to study transmission within
the community. A few weeks ago,
they started to test a random subset
of samples for COVID-19 infection.
They sent my sample to the King
County Public Health Department
for confirmation; however, I was told
that all of the samples that have tested
positive in the research study have
been confirmed by Public Health.
As of Monday March 9th, it has
been 13 days since my symptoms
started and more than 72 hours
since my fever subsided. The King
County Public Health Department is
recommending you stay isolated for
7 days after the start of symptoms or
72 hours after your fever subsides. I
have surpassed both deadlines so I
am no longer isolating myself how-
ever I am avoiding strenuous activity
and large crowds and I obviously
will not come near you if I see you in
public. I was not hospitalized. Not
every country is hospitalizing every-
one with a COVID-19 infection and
in my case, and in many other cases,
I didn’t even go to the doctor because
I was recovering on my own and felt
it was just a nasty flu strain different
from the ones I have been protected
from with this season’s flu vaccine.
I also truly believe the lack of testing
is leading to folks believing that they
just have a cold or something else
going out into public and spreading it.
And worse folks with no symptoms
are also spreading it as in the case of
a person attending a party or social
gathering who has no symptoms.
I know some folks are thinking that
this can’t/won’t impact them. I hope
it doesn’t but I believe that the overall
lack of early and pervasive testing
damaged the public’s ability to avoid
the illness here in Seattle. All I know
is that Seattle has been severely im-
pacted and although I’m better now I
would not wish this very uncomforta-
ble illness on anyone.
One thing that I believe may have
saved me from getting worse res-
piratory symptoms is the fact that I
consistently took Sudafed, used Afrin
nasal spray (3 sprays in each nostril,
3 days at a time and then 3 days off),
and used a Neti pot (with purified
water). This could have kept my
sinuses clear and prevented the symp-
toms from spreading to my lungs.
This is not medical advice: I’m simply
sharing what I did and correlating it
with the fact that I had no respiratory
symptoms. The two could be entirely
unrelated based on the viral strain
and viral load that I received.
I hope this information helps
someone avoid getting sick and/or
push to get tested sooner rather than
later so you know to isolate before it
gets worse or to get medical care if
you have respiratory distress. Hand
washing doesn’t guarantee you won’t
get sick, especially when folks without
symptoms are contagious and could
be standing right next to you in any
given social situation. You more likely
than not will not die, but do you want
to risk spreading it to a loved one over
60 or someone with an immunity
issue? Stay healthy folks!
