Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Here are some first-person accounts of what it’s like to go through COVID-19. Bottom line: You should stay home or do whatever you can to prevent its spread.
A Korean man told Vice.com that three days after what started as a mild sore throat, he could no longer breathe properly. He went for a test and while standing in line, he fainted.
When he got medicine and oxygen, he said, “I felt better to breathe, but (it) felt like having a heavy metal plate on my chest.”
U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, told CNN, “I feel like I have a belt around my chest that’s really tight. When I cough, my muscles are so sore, so I just feel pain every time I cough, which is frequently. I feel short of breath and I have a fever of about 102.”
He said he was forcing himself to consume food and water, and gets winded just from eating and drinking.
An unidentified Orlando, Florida, woman says, "I’ve had the flu before, it’s not even comparable. The fever is so high you hallucinate. I’m still having a fever, but it’s coming down slowly.”
Clay Bentley, another Orlando man, said he was first diagnosed with pneumonia and was sent home from the hospital.
"Four days later I got to a point where I couldn't get out of bed and I said to them 'Ya'll sent me home to die.' And I said I can't even move or breathe. Can't catch my breath,” he said.
Connor Reed, a 25 year old Welsh schoolteacher, told a Welsh newspaper he at first thought he had a sniffle.
A few days later, he wrote, “I ache all over, my head is thumping, my eyes are burning, my throat is constricted.”
Then he learned he had COVID-19.
By day 11, he thought it was getting better, but it was 'back with a vengeance' the next day.
"I’m sweating, burning up, dizzy and shivering. The television is on but I can’t make sense of it, he said. "I can’t take more than sips of air and, when I breathe out, my lungs sound like a paper bag being crumpled up.”
Some may be luckier. Dr. Ezriel Kornel, a neurosurgeon, told USA Today he started out with simple cold symptoms, but a few days later developed a fever, body aches and chills.
He tested positive for COVID-19, but ”it felt like the flu,” he said. The symptoms “weren’t unbearable,” and he said he was looking forward to going back to work with some immunity.
A medical worker quoted in Vox.com, said, “This is knocking out what should be perfectly fit, healthy people.”
Further, she said, “Patients will be on minimal support, on a little bit of oxygen, then all of a sudden they go into complete respiratory arrest, shut down and can’t breathe at all.”
To my media colleagues: Please give less ink and air time to fingerpointing and more to helping us get rid of this impending nightmare.
Steve Hansen writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: