I wasn't planning on bringing this up, but I shared it yesterday with another Board member via PM yesterday, and I figured I might as well share it with everyone.
I tested positive for the coronavirus over two weeks ago. I experienced the equivalent of a relatively mild case of the flu, and it lasted for about 3 days. While I experienced none of the respiratory symptoms, I was feverish, my body ached, especially my joints, and I was exhausted. And I completely lost my sense of taste and smell. After the third day, when I was already beginning to feel better, I went to my doctor to take the test, and three days later I heard back from him that it was positive. The good news is that he believes that my flu-like thing was my reaction to contracting the virus, and nothing else should happen.
In the mean time, even though it's been 14 days since I was symptomatic, and as long as 4 weeks since I contracted the disease, I'm keeping away from everyone. I've gone to the store a couple of times, wearing a mask and gloves, and I've gone for several long walks, steering well clear of anyone else, I haven't gone for a run for a long time, and I really miss it.
The good news is that I have a big pile of books I've been meaning to read, along with about 50 movies and TV shows in my Netflix queue, so I've been keeping busy and entertained. I watched all of "Downton Abbey," and I'm now about 80% through "Orange is the New Black."
What I find a little disturbing is the math. I went to the doctor to be tested on March 20th. My symptoms began on March 17th. If, as the CDC is saying, there is a lapse of 14 days between contracting the virus and symptoms appearing, I was exposed some time around March 3rd. And during the period between March 3rd and March 15th, Was was going about my daily routine. I went to work and came into contact with hundreds of people, I church twice during that period, I went to see a movie on the weekend of the 7th, I went for my regular runs, etc., all the time carrying the virus.
The weirdest thing was losing my senses of taste and smell. It was 100%. At one point I walked around my apartment smelling things -- spices in the spice rack, a bottle of vinegar, a container of Vick's Vaporub, etc. -- and I smelt absolutely nothing. When I ate, I could feel the textures, but there was no taste at all. It's slowly beginning to come back, but it was a very weird sensation. I'm typically not paranoid, but at one point I began worrying that if there was a gas leak, I wouldn't be able to smell it.
The good news is that I now feel 100% back to normal, and I trust my doctor's assurance that I'm done with the disease. I've had a lot of opportunities to spend more time with people via phone calls and Face Time. I virtually watched the movie "Guardians of the Galaxy" with my nephews, and it was a fun experience.
I'm not going to nag, but everyone, please be safe. I was, I suppose, lucky to only have relatively mild symptoms, but who knows if, during that in-between period, I exposed someone to the virus who wasn't young(ish) and healthy like me. Sheltering in sucks, but it's vital.