My name is Matthew. I am one of the 26 million Americans who was infected with COVID-19. Thankfully, my symptoms were mild overall and my convalescence brief. Still, this is a virus I would wish on no one.
My COVID-19 Battle
For all the talk about my unnecessary travel during the pandemic, there is a 0% chance I contracted COVID-19 during my travels…I had been home for four weeks when I fell ill. In fact, it is not clear where it came from. Church? Coffee shop? The plumber? Grocery store?
My symptoms started with chills. I did not associate them with COVID-19, though I certainly noted they were untimely. Then, I developed an excruciating headache and congestion. That only lasted for about a day. But when I woke up the following morning, I had lost all taste and smell. I knew then I had COVID-19 before I was even tested.
Sure enough, my rapid antigen came back positive within three hours. A few days later I obtained a PCR test, which also came back positive.
The moment I lost taste and smell, I barricaded myself in my son’s room and remained distant from my own family. Interestingly, my wife and son did not get it (each were tested three times), though it is unclear if either has antibodies.
Thankfully, I had no fatigue, fever, or any sort of respiratory issues. In that sense, it was a very productive week sitting in my son’s twin bed and working. Heidi would make food for me and leave it outside the door. I’d eat inside the room and only use the restroom when the coast was clear. My “prison” could have been much worse.
A week later, I tested negative. I tested again the next day and was negative once again.
My taste had begun to return, but I still had no smell.
Months later, my smell is still compromised. I guess that makes me a bit of “long hauler” though I can still smell…just not nearly as well as before.
To illustrate this graphically, I cannot smell my baby daughter’s dirty diaper from more than a couple feet away. Guess who has permanent diaper duty…?
The thought of a permanent disability, if you want to call it that, is sobering and a reminder of why we take precautions like social distancing and masks.
Friends, I am so thankful to have recovered. I am so thankful that my father, in his 80s, and uncle, in his 90s, did not get the virus.
Did you ever wonder why I suddenly became so adamant about wearing masks?
My story is a warning that the virus is out there and despite our best efforts at shielding ourselves, it is still possible to contract the virus unless you truly remain isolated from all other humans (not something possible for most humans).
I hope and pray that my smell will eventually fully return. I’ve already explored experimental treatment if it does not continue to gradually improve. I can only implore you here: shelter those most vulnerable around you, get vaccinated as soon as you can, and understand that COVID-19 is very real.
Sorry to hear about the lingering effects. But glad that you recovered. Stay safe!
glad to hear that you’re alright.
I hope Kyle pays attention and reads this instead of dishing out horrible misinformation.
Yes.
I don’t even read on Sunday. I encourage everyone to do the same.
Kyle offers a variety of great content on Sundays. Even if you disagree with his take on COVID-19, he covers many topics on Sunday.
Nope. Can’t do it.
Seconded. I am okay with content I disagree with. I am NOT okay with scientifically inaccurate, irresponsible, misleading content that can put the public in danger.
So sorry to read that you are/were sick.
The most common way of transmission is a lunch or gathering with one or two friends. That’s right, we can think we’re acting safely and that the one friend is “clean”, but we aren’t.
As for the vaccine, for better distribution of vaccine, it’s recommended that people who had Covid-19 not get the vaccine for 3 months to allow others to get the vaccine. The theory is that circulating antibodies will protect the person for awhile though not as long as a vaccine. Some even speculate that those with Covid-19 in the past should wait 6 months to allow others to get the vaccine.
It may be that those with Covid-19 could get sick with new variants but little is known. There have only been maybe 2 cases this has happened but most people are not tested as to which variant due to very high costs.
Tell your wife that you did not get Covid-19 from a porn star.
Some brain training may be useful. Try to smell your daughter’s poop then walk back and try to smell it from farther away. Do the same for fried eggs or any other smell. It wouldn’t regenerate nerve endings in your nose but will train your brain to interpret fewer nerve signals.
OK, don’t need to smell poop. Other things can be used as a substitute.
I’m glad you’re well now, and I hope you will recover fully.
My wife and I contracted it here in the UK back in Nov. I only had a runny nose for a couple days and that’s about it. My wife lost her smell and taste buds and was fatigued and had muscle aches and pains. That was about the same time we found out she was pregnant, so we’re not sure what was pregnancy related or COVID related. Her smell and taste both eventually came back. It was probably good she had it during her first trimester as she didn’t get sick, but only once. As far as we can tell, we have a healthy baby still brewing. She’s at 17.5 weeks now and the baby is growing like a weed.
I was supposed to give plasma to the NHS last week to test my antibody levels, but we were in isolation from coming back from the US so I couldn’t make my appointment. I’m hoping I can get another appointment here soon so I can learn what my antibody levels are 3 months down the line.
I’m glad you only had a mild case Matt, very lucky.
Get well soon! When did you fall ill?
When did this happen?
Early on, you wrote an article saying you were willing to be exposed to the virus, in the hope that there would be some sort of “ive been sick” passport that would enable you (and others) to hopefully travel unfettered once exposed. Would you still support something like this?
You really don’t miss your smell and taste until you lose it. If a recovery passport was a thing and I could suddenly travel to every nation, would it be worthwhile? Shockingly perhaps, yes. Would it be worthwhile if I lost my smell permanently? No. But I’m hopeful that my smell will continue to return and I am hopeful that a widespread, worldwide vaccine rollout will accomplish the same goal. I am a bit concerned that some variants appear much more resistant to the vaccine.
Again – when did this happen?
Glad you’ve mostly recovered. My parents had it in August. My mom is totally recovered. My dad is too – mostly. He lost taste and smell and both are only back, he’d estimate, at about 80%.
Great article in the NYT Magazine over the weekend about smell & Covid: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/magazine/covid-smell-science.html
Hello Matt. May I ask, provided you don’t mind sharing the information, your treatment regimen during COVID? I have a colleague who got it and used nothing but advil and lost sense of taste temporarily. This is what I would do typically for a viral infection from the Slavic point of view:
1) Sauna. I wish I had one, about 1/4 Slavs/Scandinavians I know do. They’re invaluable for clearing out your respiratory system. In lieu of that, I take hot showers and baths and put a hot towel over my face. A neti pot is also good.
2) Vitamin up! Zinc is particularly recommended with COVID but I also have Vitamin D and E onhand in addition to airborne and mutlivitamins.
3) I get prescription stuff. I find it interesting that many would take a vaccine using experimental mRNA but would fret about common anti-viral medications available for a half century.
4) Exercise. When I’ve gone through the flu I had to move and I found to my surprise that lifting and working out made me feel better. But that was just me.
That’s why cloth masks were only good as a stopgap early on. N95 is the way to go with surgical masks at low risk settings. Limit the number and duration of contact. Stop going to church and attend by Zoom but get dressed like you would go to church to show respect. Shop for groceries as quickly as possible. Matthew should shop instead of his wife.
Glad you recovered safely.
Glad you recovered. Smell was an underappreciated sense, at least until 2020! Great podcast from NYT on the subject: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus-loss-of-smell-anosmia.html
Thanks, I will listen.
This was a fascinating article! Passing it on to my daughter who lost her sense of smell to Covid.
Wann ist das passiert, Herr Klint?
People that think masks are the answer are kidding themselves unless they are wearing full respirator masks… simply look up what virolgusts wear when working…. those are the only things that really truly work. Otherwise you are kidding yourself with 10 cent masks from China. Either that or stay completely isolated!
No, you’re actually completely wrong. Yes, the full mask respirator is probably the only thing that works 100% of the time, but even if a cloth or surgical mask reduces transmission by 40% than you are significantly reducing the R-Naught of the virus. It’s not an all or nothing game, masks, social distancing, hand washing, etc etc all play a roll in reducing the transmission.
Trumpsters don’t understand gray.
I’m a Trumpster and I understand gray (most of the time 🙂
So… does your absolute generalization about us make you a Trumpster? 🙂
Code for I don’t want to wear a mask and will use any specious logic to not do so.
A seatbelt doesn’t give you 100 % protection. So why wear one?
David Purdue ignorant as always
I am happy to hear that you are recovering and I truly hope you do not suffer any long-term effects. Long-haulers with this virus are absolutely not having fun.
Actually, there is a there is a 100% chance you contracted COVID-19 during your travels… your travels to church, the coffee shop, the grocery store, etc. You could just as easily have been infected on your travels abroad, but you got lucky.
It is unfortunate how so many people will not take this thing seriously until it finally hits close to home. I am not telling you how to live your life, but I am telling you that you take your chances *every single time* you go near other people – doesn’t matter where in the world that may be.
So your solution is just to stay home…until the whole world is vaccinated? Not being facetious, but how do you account for that cost and the lives lost due lockdowns and their devastating ramifications?
Where did I say that? I said you take your chances.
Fair enough. Appreciate your follow-up.
How many lives have been lost due to lock down? Trump said this all the time, but are there any stats? What are these devastating ramifications?
The UN World Food Programme has warned that 270,000,000 people face starvation as a result of the global impact of lockdowns and restrictions. This alone makes the response to Covid the single most lethal policy that governments have ever adopted, killing many times more than Mao, Stalin and Hitler combined.
https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-warns-grave-dangers-economic-impact-coronavirus-millions-are-pushed-further-hunger
I am fed up with attitudes like this mojo fellow.
What life do you have that you have gotten to sit at home and order in everything you need for 10 months? I went back to work in April and have been at work ever since. No one gave me the option to hold up in my house and “take this thing seriously,” not if I wanted a paycheck to take care of my family and obligations anyway. I take every pre-caution I reasonably can and have worn a mask since I started going back to work, before it was even mandatory, but in all seriousness tens of millions of us went back to work after the “14 days to slow the spread” and we aren’t all essential healthcare workers. I am lucky to not be in a risk group but many of my co-workers are, or take care of family members that are, yet here we are, going to work every day.
I don’t know what fantasy world people live in who comment on the internet all day long that “good people” should “stay at home.” We weren’t all given that chance, if your employment/er allowed you to work from home this whole time and make your normal living, you are truly blessed and I seek not to take that away from you, please appreciate it! However that doesn’t change that plenty of us, from a broad swath of careers and income levels, have been “near other people” most every day of this mess and done the most we could to protect ourselves and our loved ones every day.
You inference is like knee-jerk scattershot. I did not say “hold up in your house”, or “stay home”. I simply said (in plain English), you take your chances when you go near other people. Fortunately I still have a job; I’ve been commuting to the worksite pretty much every day since early March as well, because I also have to work and I cannot work from home. Masked-up from the beginning, hands beat-up from constant hand-sanitiser use. Also caring for an elderly 87 year-old parent (trying like crazy to get a vaccine appointment for him). Most importantly, avoiding gatherings and any unnecessary contact with others. Not eating at restaurants or lounging at coffee shops but instead getting it to go and getting the hell out of there. Yes, it’s a drag, and yes I’d rather eat out properly but until this is passed, I’m not gonna do it. I still need to go to the grocery store – I do it quick and I get the hell out of there. I still need to get the car serviced, etc. Certainly not some “fantasy world” that you infer.
But if you’re smart and vigilant and take maximum possible precautions (as I have, as you also say you have) then with a little luck we’ll make it through this.
Apologies I read too far into your comment. Everything has a risk associated with it but life goes on. We do the best we can to keep that risk low and get the things done we need to do. I certainly agree about picking up take out, getting in and out of stores, no parties or gatherings. Hands are constantly drying out from frequent washing/sanitizer, but they warn cracked hands are bad so then you put lotion on your cracked hands and that stings and makes a mess. It is just a constant effort to stay safe and get things done.
The sad reality is that our system of government and political institutions insulate our society from rapid change. Our ability to rapidly respond with systemic action in the face of systemic threats is marginal at best.
@HiAperture
I wish we didn’t need to choose between paychecks and relative safety. Had we enjoyed a coordinated response at all levels of government, with a massive subsidy toward truly non-essential workers, perhaps we could’ve just shortened our collective suffering by months.
I know the massive temporary expansion of unemployment or a “social security for all” scheme is highly controversial, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I feel like hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars “investing” in a severe but truncated shutdown may have done more for the economy than whatever half-assed measures we’ve put up so far. We might have even saved a few lives in the interim.
I’m sorry there’re tens of millions who went back to work after 14 days. I’m sorry you’re one of them. I’m even more sorry that you had no other choice.
Happy you are doing well.
It is possible to isolate. My husband and I have done it since Feb. 25.
I feel very sad that 95,000 people die in a month, Jan. 2021, yet so many people just aren’t willing to sacrifice to a sufficient degree. Nor are we willing to think out of the box a bit and get more first dose shots into arms. The 21 and 28 day periods were just a guess, and a guess based on part by trying to expedite the trials.
Kate, I’m glad you are financially sufficient enough to stay home for a year.
How safe were you when you caught the virus? Was it a blockade situation where no one entered or left for weeks beforehand? Daily coffee trips? I’m still a 2-4 months away from my shot and am trying to gather information. Right now I leave the house 2-3 times a week for gas/groceries/home improvement stuff and one day a week physically at work. I’ll take what insight I can get.
I was out frequently for grocery trips, to church on Sundays, gas every other week, and to the coffee shop 1-2 times per week, where I did not wear my mask when sitting and sipping my coffee (often with a friend or family member, but not more than one and we did keep six feet apart at opposite ends of the table).
During COVID of course, except for testing, I did not leave the house.
It’s entirely possible to avoid most of these excursions. I too have a wife, child, company and home, but we have only gone out for groceries once every other week (always at night and always with N95 masks and gloves) and cut all other social visits since mid-March 2020. Zero church visits, zero restaurant visits (only delivery & drive-in), zero coffee shop visits, zero social visits, etc. So, no Matthew, you don’t have to be ”financially sufficient enough to stay home for a year” to take Covid-19 more seriously than you obviously have.
Glad you are recovering Matthew. Your sense of smell may take some time to come back. The virus rewires your olfactory bulb, so “retraining” it has to occur.
I’d echo the suggestion above of wearing highly protective masks, like KN95s or preferably N95s. Not difficult to find these days, and they *greatly* diminish the risk of contracting Covid in most settings.
“The thought of a permanent disability, if you want to call it that, is sobering and a reminder of why we take precautions like social distancing and masks.”
Not sure why this advice is so hard for people to deal with. I flew domestic a few weeks ago and I saw so many people not wearing it properly, making excuses that they didn’t need to because they were eating (intentionally eating super slowly, etc.) I get opposition to very invasive restrictions (like mandatory hotel quarantine) but wearing a mask is so damn easy. Keeping one’s distance is less easy, but still possible. Until we get widespread vaccination it’s the only way.
It’s because it’s always someone else’s problem until it happens to you.
Glad to hear you’re well Matthew. Wishing a full recovery.
I strongly suspect this was acquired in one of those burger joint visits. Of course you count your blessings in respect of the minimal ( and highly likely temporary) inconvenience of loss os smell.
Your “immunity passport” is pretty useless, PITA though that is. Real , unencumbered travel is not going to resume until : 1. There is a degree of herd immunity making transmission a minimal risk; 2. It is clear that the vaccines stop transmission from person to person, in addition to stopping serious illness ( …as appears to be the case with Astra-Zeneca, reported yesterday).
Having F***-up the initial response, most governments will now want unequivocal answers before serious loosening of travel constraints.
It will please you to know that the only time I visit a burger joint is after a trip that concludes at LAX, so that wasn’t it! 😉
I do agree that it will be sometime before most borders re-open, with or without a vaccination.
I really appreciate your decision to share this with us Matthew, I am glad to hear your recovery was mostly swift, and pray your smell comes back in time to a full capacity. I feel you have really been a pragmatic voice through this entire pandemic, taking flak from both extreme positions over the past months. I am glad you were able to isolate and protect your family as well. May we all get vaccinated as soon as possible and put this chapter behind us.
Did having already had Covid make it easier to justify your trip to DC for the Inauguration?
No. Having a negative test and no symptoms did.
Reading your post remind me of Paul Taylor.
Paul Taylor is a British humorist leaving in Paris in France.
Paul says he get it in september 2020 and he guess he get it drinking a beer with spectators after the end of his show.
He says he has suffered 8 horrible days in bed before the end of it,
Apparently you have less suffered than him in a way.
The common point with you is that his wife and his daugther did not get it too and do not have it.
So you may both not be spreaders, althoug unfornately you have been “receivers”.
Paul is back on his videos.
So all the best for you for the full final recovery.
I’m sure you’ll be the one crop dusting the first class cabin.
“it’s not like anyone can smell it”
Glad you recovered well, Matthew. Even though this was months ago? Where was the Chris Cuomo live style reporting from the basement? Your Covid is SO over. 🙂
The only reason I made it public was for my post coming tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Sorry to hear you got Covid and glad to hear your symptoms were mild overall.
I was a bit surprised to read there was a four-week period that you didn’t travel, but then you say it was months ago, so perhaps this was early in the pandemic. Has the fact that you have Covid antibodies emboldened your more recent travels because you may be “immune”?
I’m uncertain how I feel about you not sharing this info earlier. On the one hand, you have every right to keep private any info you want to keep private. On the other hand, people may have been reading about your travels and interpreted travel to be safer than it actually is for those who don’t have Covid antibodies. Perhaps a post on why you decided to share this now, and not earlier, and how it impacted your travel decisions up to now?
Fair questions. Your final question will be answered tomorrow.
When this is all said and done and investigations are completed I predict that churches will be proven to have been the number 1 venue to spread Covid-19 in the US. The first super spreading event in the US was a church choir practice in February 2020. Bars would have been the top spreader but many states closed or limited those.
Vaccines, will by next year curtail the death count to manageable level.
However within 3 years we will likely see an accumulating toll of people with disability.
Wear a quality N95-type mask, and good luck!
Jetting all over the world with a deadly pandemic raging and the very real possibility of death, permanent disability, or killing a family member never occurred to you? I have zero sympathy for you. ZERO. We know one thing- you are definitely an American, willfully ignorant and pathologically narcissistic. It wasn’t a matter of if, but only when for you and anyone else who thinks we’re going to live like we did pre Covid.
#logical_fallacy
Is it though?
Glad you recovered without serious symptoms. I also wish you no long-term consequences…
Just as context and helpful information, I link this article from the NYT that covers some of the latest research on people suffering from long-term effects, even after a mild bout of COVID-19.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/health/coronavirus-antibodies-immunity.html
The gist of it is, there is a good chance that a significant percentage of infected persons are developing autoantibodies, and once those are formed in your body, they are permanently a part of your immune system. You will live the rest of your life with your immune system fighting your own body cells and tissues. As a young and healthy individual, the death rate for COVID-19 does not scare me, but the possibility of a lifelong autoimmune condition is terrifying. We simply do not know enough about this virus yet. Everyone should take all precautions possible.
It’s sounds like the virus might have also been transferred to you from a surface.
Our numbers are very low (pretty much lowest in Europe) but the virus is around and active, and just last week one infection cluster was traced to a gym. Some 20+ infections and the people weren’t at the gym the same time so it was transferred through some surface there.
My 20 year old son got Covid this past August. He was at home when his symptoms developed, and we had a stressful few nights with him watching him (completely healthy 20 year old with no medical issues) struggle for breath for two or three days, until things got better. (Thank G-d). Neither my husband, my 17 year old son, or myself seemed to have caught it from him, although we took two tests and we’re quarantined for two weeks.( It was actually a very restful period, once I saw that the 20 year old was over the worst. )However fast forward to January 2021, and the same 17 year old caught it in this wave, while neither of the parents did. This is a scary virus, with neither rhyme nor reason dictating any logic or rules. We tested negative for antibodies, and so were able to vaccinate here in Israel, although the irony is that now we’ve been on lockdown for two weeks and haven’t gone to work anyhow.
I’d like to say that we learned to tighten our belts, as far as lifestyle goes, as things here have been tough for the past year, and travelling for business is out. But the opposite is true, we had to loosen our belts because staying home so much with gyms closed, has just made all of us go up at least two sizes:)
Matt, tell your wife not to let her guard down, even if you’ve already developed antibodies. Kids, even infants can be carriers also.
Stay healthy everyone.
Thanks for sharing Matthew!
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for sharing your covid experience with us and I hope you can fully recover. Loosing a portion of your smell can be very frustrating, hope you get it back soon. However, have you try visit a TCM doctor? Over where I live in HK, the government had set up last April (2020) physiotherapy and TCM treatment for covid patients who were experiencing side effects after recovery. According to the rehabilitation program, there were stories of people recuperating 80-90% of their smell or taste bud (usually treatment includes herbal medicine and/or acupuncture) as well as helping people to boost their immune system due to fatigue, insomnia, etc. I am not familiar with your area if you are able to find a TCM practitioner but in HK, all TCM practitioners are registered. Wish you and your family the best!
So you’re saying that you needed to get infected yourself before taking it seriously, despite knowing that it’s a global pandemic that has killed millions?
Anyway, glad you’re doing ok.
Actually, I took it seriously from the start in terms of my own behavior. I just became more adamant about masks due to my own experience (plus all the poor behavior on airplanes).