Nations all over the world were forced to adapt to the new virus. Everyday media outlets are full of news about Covid-19: number of infected, number of tested, recovered, and died; news about vaccines and test trials of new medicines. But for the majority of the people, these statistics are just numbers. There is not much available information from the people who actually contracted the virus. This uncertainty causes panic. People do not know whether they should be scared or go on living as normal, and what they should do if they contract the virus.
My family and I contracted the virus on December 9. As we all have it in different degrees of severity, I decided to write about our experience to show what having Covid-19 might be like. As Covid-19 has affected GZAAT as well, I interviewed students who have also contracted the virus.
When my mother discovered that she had a high fever that was not decreasing for the last two days, she decided to get tested. By the time we received her positive test result, she had strong headaches and a high fever. Even though my mother was self-isolating, my grandmother also started having symptoms and she also tested positive. Her case was the most severe in our family. She had shortness of breath and coughing. When they finally measured the oxygen level in her blood it was 84% when a normal level is 97-98%. She got transported to a hospital. The rest of my family did not have any symptoms at first, but we were monitoring our symptoms by measuring our temperature several times a day. On the second day of isolation, my temperature was 37.1 degrees and 37.2 on the next day. My brother and sister also got around 37-37.2 degrees, so we already knew that we had the virus. Two days later while having dinner I discovered that I had lost my sense of smell, which is the characteristic symptom of Covid-19. This confirmed that we had contracted it too as did the tests. To include first-hand experiences from my family members I interviewed them as well.
Nanu (65): “ My case was severe even from the beginning. I was coughing all the time and could barely breathe. When they transported me to the hospital they had to attach me to the mechanical ventilator. Doctors said that more than 50% of my lungs were damaged. Only on the 16th day after getting tested positive, I could start breathing without the help of the ventilator. The hospital staff is very caring. Thankfully after 18 days, I will be able to return home and slowly recover.”
Nino (40): “My first symptom was a high fever, and over the next two days I felt weak and had a faster than normal pulse. For the next few days, I experienced more symptoms: strong headaches, pain in my neck, back, shoulders, and legs. But the worst part was headaches. They were very strong, I could barely open my eyes. Every time I stood up, I felt as if I would faint. I feel better now, but I still experience light headaches, overall tiredness, and still have a fever.”
Niki (11): “In the beginning, my only symptom was coughing, but after a couple of days, I began to have headaches and sometimes even a fever. Then I got a sore throat and my eyes began to hurt. We were instructed to blow balloons every day to prevent lung damage, which was actually fun. The symptoms remain but overall, I feel better.”
I also interviewed two GZAAT students who had Covid-19 at different times.
The first respondent is 9th grader, Shoti Sikharulidze who had this virus in October. This is how he described his experience with Covid: “My mother and I visited my childhood friend, whose mother tested positive for Covid. Then my mother got a fever of 38 degrees and lost her sense of smell, so we knew she had also contracted it. We asked to get her tested and they arrived the next day. Back then there were not this many cases as nowadays so this express laboratory was coming with the delay of only one day. They didn’t test me because I had no symptoms and they did not test people without symptoms. Both my parents tested positive and were transported to the Covid hotel. Soon after, I also got a temperature of 37.5 and symptoms that people with normal flu have, such as sore throat, little coughing, etc. I also tested positive and was transported to the Covid hotel. In a hotel, we had three meals per day, and they were pretty good. We had some porridge for breakfast, soup, and fish for dinner, and hot dogs for supper. We were monitoring our symptoms and doctors called us every day to check up on us. Hotel personnel were maintaining all sanitary rules and didn’t have any contact with us.”
Nations all over the world were forced to adapt to the new virus. Everyday media outlets are full of news about Covid-19: number of infected, number of tested, recovered, and died; news about vaccines and test trials of new medicines. But for the majority of the people, these statistics are just numbers. There is not much available information from the people who actually contracted the virus. This uncertainty causes panic. People do not know whether they should be scared or go on living as normal, and what they should do if they contract the virus. were no fast or PCR tests available at home, so we called again several times and were finally transported to the Botchorishvili clinic, where we tested positive. Georgia had less than 50 cases in March, so every case was hospitalized. Our cases were not severe. I only had a fever for three days. My brother and parents had mild pneumonia which was treated in two weeks. Despite this the policy at the time was to only discharge Covid patients if they tested negative two times in a row. I kept testing positive even though I had no symptoms so I had to stay in the hospital for 44 days. My mother and brother were discharged on the 28th day and my father was discharged on the 38th. In the hospital we were given Intravenous therapy (IV) everyday even though we had no symptoms anymore. They also took X-rays of our lungs at the end of every week.”
It is obvious that the treatment of patients with this virus has evolved over time. People may have it in different degrees of severity and are treated differently: some from home, others from the hospital. There are even people who recovered from the virus from the hotel rooms. But one thing is clear, this virus is still spreading and its severity and the effect on the body is still unpredictable. People should follow all the recommendations from health officials and stay safe.
Edited by Lika Gegenava
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