‘This is what you’re in for’: Watertown woman breaks down onset of COVID-19 symptoms
“I wanted to make it clear that even if you’re relatively young, or healthy, or like me and very lucky, you can still get very sick.”
Wash your hands. Stay inside. That’s the message a Watertown woman says she hopes people learn from her experience in a two-week quarantine with symptoms of COVID-19.Kat Powers broke down in detail her experience with the symptoms of the novel coronavirus on Twitter, urging people to not dismiss the possibility of getting the illness even if they are healthy. “If you go out, if you don’t wash your hands, if you think you’ll just get sick and ride it out, this is what you’re in for,” she wrote.
The sore throat is sort of like smoking a pack of menthol cigarettes when you’re already a little sick. And you’ll feel very tired. You’ll be surprised how much your eyeballs hurt, and ice packs on your eyes won’t help. 2/14
— Kat Powers (@KatPowers) March 24, 2020
Now the body aches kick in. I fell about 30 feet in the middle of a hike last year. The sore after that was minor compared to how #Coronavirus feels in the largest muscles in your body. Advil, hot baths won’t touch this kind of ache, and it lasts for days. 4/14
— Kat Powers (@KatPowers) March 24, 2020
So you’re shivering with the body aches, and you’ll start to get thirsty. Really thirsty. Like the amount of water I was gulping down made my stomach feel bloated and I was still thirsty. #coronavirus 6/14
— Kat Powers (@KatPowers) March 24, 2020
About this time you’re wondering where you got #Coronavirus from. And curse him/her/they. You may be too bloated and sore to find your phone to track them down. If you can, try to warn them what’s coming. Do turn down the light on your phone. It will seem blinding. 8/14
— Kat Powers (@KatPowers) March 24, 2020
Did your fever break yet? Good. The cough comes now. It’s dry, nothing comes of it where you think you’ll cough up the chest pressure. Most doctors won’t prescribe anything for it because nothing works with this virus. I found cough drops and tea with honey helped. 10/14
— Kat Powers (@KatPowers) March 24, 2020
Oh, did I mention the diarrhea? Any time you feel well enough to eat, you’ll get the runs and even more thirsty. Stick to carbs if you can and don’t make spicy curry like I did. That was three days of regret right there. 12/14
— Kat Powers (@KatPowers) March 24, 2020
So, still think you’re young and you can deal with getting sick when you get sick? I’m really sorry you feel that way. Because soon enough you’ll be feeling this way too. Be well, wash your hands. Stay inside so you don’t spread it. 14/14
— Kat Powers (@KatPowers) March 24, 2020
Powers, a former journalist, told Boston.com that she is on a list to get tested for the virus. The doctors she has spoken to have told her there aren’t enough tests to determine exactly how many people have the virus.
“They’re calling us ‘presumed cases,’” she wrote in an email. “I can tell you all those symptoms I ticked off on my thread match up with the COVID-19 list. From what I understand I hit all of them except for the fact that I don’t recall ever losing sense of smell.”
The 50-year-old said she decided to share her experience when she was at home, coughing “so hard I was unable to make it down the stairs to get the mail,” and saw friends and family posting about going out.
“This virus is no joke, and I wanted to make it clear that even if you’re relatively young, or healthy, or like me and very lucky, you can still get very sick,” she said. “That sickness is avoidable at the moment if you just plant your bottom on the couch and have a video chat instead of going on that date or meeting up for a pickup basketball game.”
“I also have a bit of a background in communications, and I know I did not understand some of the early messages in ‘social distancing’ and how long we might be expected to stay at home,” she added. “I mean, seriously, ‘social distancing’ sounds like an abstinence pitch from the ’80s. I wanted to be very clear what the consequences are for the relatively healthy person who chooses not to stay at home and gets sick.”
Powers said she knows people are afraid.
“Now that I’ve had the virus and I’m recovering, I don’t want anyone else to go through all the symptoms I’ve detailed,” she said. “I’d rather they be informed than afraid.”
She’s not sure whether people will heed her warning or if she was “preaching to the choir” of people who may already be washing their hands and staying indoors. But she’s hopeful she may have convinced at least one person to stay at home.
“If she/he/they didn’t infect three people, it was worth it,” she wrote.
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<h2>What are the symptoms of coronavirus, and how is it treated?</h2>
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