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Coronavirus: 37-year-old survivor shares her experience on Facebook

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 14 March 2020, 11:19 IST

Coronavirus has affected over 100 countries across the world and killed over 5000 people, however, only a few have been survived from the deadly virus. One of the survivors is from the United States’ Seattle where a tricenarian got survived from COVID-19.

The woman identified as Elizabeth Schneider (37) has recovered from the coronavirus has shared her experience on Facebook. Elizabeth was infected with coronavirus during the last week of February.


In her FB post, she revealed how she contracted the virus, how it affected her health and also what misconceptions people are having about the virus.

Firstly, she asked people not to panic because of the virus.

 

Elizabeth said that she contracted the virus at a house party as a few days ago, several friends who were also presented in the party became ill at the same time she did.

She realized three days after the February 22 party, when she was at her workplace and all of sudden, she started feeling unwell.

According to the reports in CNN, Elizabeth was feeling tired, body aches, getting a headache and also feeling a little bit feverish.

She also suffered from a 101-degree fever after she woke up from a nap. Later, it went increased to 103 degrees.

Initially, she thought that it just the nasty flu. She didn’t realize that it could be the coronavirus because the symptoms didn’t fit as she didn’t have a cough, no shortness of breath, no respiratory symptoms at all.

The surprising moment for her when she came to know that her dozen friends who were in the same party also fell sick on the same day with very similar symptoms she had.
Interestingly, Elizabeth and her friends weren’t tested positive for the virus, she told. Their doctors thought they had normal flu, but the flu tests were negative.
"At this point, we were all getting a little frustrated that they weren't allowed to be tested for coronavirus, or the doctor wasn't even suggesting" they be tested for it, Schneider said.

Later, Elizabeth's friend told her about a Seattle flu study. Participants sign up online and send in a nasal swab from a kit that's part of the study. Recently, she said, they started testing for coronavirus, too, and "that's how I ultimately found out."

Schneider said that she recovered from the disease after staying in a home, resting and taking over-the-counter medications.

"I think the big takeaway I want to tell everyone is: Please don't panic," Schneider said. "If you are healthy, if you are younger, if you take good care of yourself when you're sick, you will recover, I believe. And I'm living proof of that."

“I am going to be a little more cautious about going into big groups with people, you know, physically, people. But at the same time, you know, I'm not gonna be able to live for the rest of my life over the next, you know, three months, like, in a hazmat suit or anything like that," said Schneider.

She has also mentioned in her story that“The reason I wanted to share my store is that, you know, I think a lot of people are contracting the virus and not really realizing it.”

“We have to really be vigilant and think of other people,” Elizabeth said.

 

“I mean, I've talked to people who have had direct contact with someone who is tested positive, but they feel loathe to tell their employer about it because they're an hourly paid worker, and if they're forced to stay home for 14 days, and they're not a company like Amazon or Microsoft that can afford to pay their hourly workers, while they're out, they're just not going to get paid. And I think there are a lot of people in situations like that," she said.

She ended her post with a message, “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!”

However, the Seattle area is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US. Till the date, at least 50 people died due to the deadly virus in the US.

Also Read: Amid coronavirus Donald Trump declares national emergency to combat deadly virus

First published: 14 March 2020, 11:19 IST