“I was technically one of the first 50 cases in the city to be confirmed.”

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - July 26, 2020: I don't know where I got it. I have my best guesses, but no known person that I'm aware of had COVID.

The second week of March, my boyfriend, Derek, had a work trip to Vegas, and I was responsible for my friend's bachelorette party. Everyone was coming from out of town to Philadelphia. Then, things started to shut down because of COVID. One of the major planned events for the bachelorette was that we had tickets for the group to attend a Philadelphia Flyers game on Saturday, March 13. My friend and half of the attendees were flying to Philadelphia on Thursday, March 11. While they were on their flights, the NHL announced that the remainder of the season was suspended.

We heard about the virus in the news over the previous few weeks. At the time, There were a couple of cases in Seattle, New York, and some in Florida. I was still going to work every day. My job only told us that if we traveled internationally, we would have to quarantine, but that was it. On Sunday, March 15th, I went to bed at 1:00 AM and felt totally fine. By 4:00 AM, I woke up with chills that were so bad that it woke Derek up. I had a fever and started to cough a couple of hours later. I didn't think it was COVID because there were only eight confirmed cases in Philadelphia at that time. It seemed like it would be so unlikely for my symptoms to be COVID, so it had to be something else like the flu. But, I was still nervous because I was around a bunch of people. Derek and I decided to be as cautious as possible, so I canceled the rest of my plans for the weekend, and we made arrangements to get a good amount of food in the house.

That day I went to urgent care to try and see if I had the flu. I didn't expect to get a COVID test. I was hoping that if I took a flu test, that would be positive, and I would feel a little better about it. But the flu test came out negative. The doctor told me that she didn't think I had COVID because there were just a few cases in the city. But she couldn't test me for COVID because I didn't qualify for the test at the time. The doctor told me that they could only test people who had traveled internationally in the last two weeks or who had come in contact with someone that was confirmed positive. The doctor gave me her phone number in case my symptoms got any worse. We continued to quarantine at home and followed all of the guidelines as if I had COVID. I would equate it to the worst version of the flu. But I would much rather have had the flu.

Tuesday, the cough got worse, and I developed really bad tension headaches. I called the urgent care doctor and went back to the urgent care I went to on Sunday, which was affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. They and the other big hospital got some test kits, and they were allowed to test symptomatic people. I qualified, so I took a test, which was on Saint Patty's day. When I went back to the urgent care center, the layout was completely different. When I went back on Tuesday, I saw that they were no longer having people go to the waiting room, and there was a different entrance for people that were symptomatic. I went through a pre-screening area where all of the staff were in full PPE, which didn’t happen the first time around. Then I got re-tested for the flu and then got the COVID test. I was told that it would probably take 4-5 days to get my results.

On Saturday, March 21st, I got a call where they told me I tested positive. At that moment, it wasn't as shocking because most of my panic came from when I first got sick. I was really upset, thinking, “Oh my God, what if I have it and spread it to other people?” But when I got the results of the test, I felt sort of okay about it. Everyone I needed to tell was aware. I don’t normally post a lot on social media, but I decided to share this information on Facebook. No one that I knew personally had COVID in March, and almost everyone I spoke to did not know anyone that had COVID at that time either. I wanted everyone to take this seriously, so I wanted to let people know that someone that they knew was symptomatic, struggled to get a test initially, and tested positive. 

It was so strange getting sick because it was so early. I didn't presume that it was possible to get sick that soon, especially via community transmission. When I look back at the numbers, I was technically one of the first 50 cases in the city to be confirmed. I don't know how my luck worked out and why that luck can't transfer to the lottery.

My first emotion was an intense wave of guilt. I realized that I came in contact with so many people. I was going to work. The weekend prior, I saw my mom, and I saw a family friend who had a heart attack. I was thinking back to all these people that I saw, all these places I had gone and potentially exposed them to the virus. The talk about “social distancing” had only started a few days before I got sick. I was very overwhelmingly obsessed. Derek had to calm me down, and he said, look, we just have to take it one step at a time. He also comforted me that in no way that I could've known. He can be level-headed like that. 

When I got the call about my test, I had already started feeling a little bit better. I fully recovered in about ten days. The cough lingered around the most. That was probably the most painful symptom. The coughs made my chest feel bruised, and I felt like I was getting kicked every time I coughed. I didn't get to the point where I had to go to a hospital or needed urgent care. I did experience a big loss of appetite. I can't remember if I actually lost my sense of taste and smell. I just attributed it to lack of appetite because when I got sick, the loss of smell and taste weren’t recognized symptoms. I had fatigue as a major symptom. I lost all the energy in my body. Then, one day I woke up, and all the symptoms were gone. I suddenly had a lot of energy, and I felt better. 

There was no guidance for recovered people from the CDC at the time. Even when I got the call that I was positive, I asked the doctor, “What do I do next?” He said he didn’t know and just asked me to stay home. Within a few days of me getting better, I noticed my skin started to peel off. It was not any blistered or red, but the entire palm of both of my hands peeled off. A couple of days later, the same thing happened with my feet. I attributed it to having COVID because it was so close to the time, and this has never happened to me before. But I still don't know if that was due to COVID.

After I recovered, I saw it as a positive thing that I got it and got over it. It was a kind of relief. We still take every precaution when we go to places, assuming that we could potentially get it again, but if I have a quick cough, I don’t panic that I have COVID. The most frustrating thing is that we don't know how long the immunity will last, or if there is immunity, or what it looks like. I feel grateful that I don't have this looming threat of COVID over my head like a lot of other people do. I take precautions, wear my mask, wash my hands. But, I don't have to worry about making sure everything I touch has to be sanitized. It gives us some peace of mind, which I know we're very lucky to have, and we have taken some positives out of the situation.

Symptoms: loss of appetite and weight loss (over two weeks, I lost 10 pounds); cough that became more painful over time, fever, chills, headache (began on day 3), fatigue, 

Post-Covid Symptoms: skin peeling on palms and feet (started in April, a couple of weeks after my symptoms resolved; took until mid-May to fully resolve), brain fog (~3 months)

Treatment: Mostly relied on OTC fever-reducing meds, either Tylenol, Advil, or DayQuil. When I got my positive results, I had asked for a prescription cough medication that I had previously taken when I had a mild case of pneumonia, and I know it was a really great cough suppressant. I tried this medication for ~5 days and it didn’t help my COVID cough at all. A couple of weeks after my symptoms went away, I started taking walks to try and re-build my endurance. After COVID, small amounts of physical activity could be exhausting. Prior to COVID, I worked out regularly, but it felt like I was starting from scratch.

Blood Type: O+

Recommendations: Since I was sick when there was a lot less available information, I frequented the r/COVID-19 Positive to see what others were experiencing. There is no one way that COVID presents in people that have it. I’ve seen so many people first react to getting sick by saying, “Well, I don’t have COVID because I don’t have a cough” or “I don’t have a fever.” My COVID symptoms mirrored a lot of flu-like symptoms, while Derek had mostly fatigue and nausea, and we are almost positive that he caught COVID from me. It’s different for everyone.

March 2021 Update: Since the interview, many people close to me have gotten COVID. Many friends and close family members have tested positive, especially towards the end of 2020 and early 2021. Most had some level of symptoms, but most people I know luckily didn’t need to be hospitalized. Derek and I both received the vaccine in March 2021. I got Moderna and Derek got Pfizer. We both get our second doses in the beginning of April. The first Moderna shot gave me some mild flu-like symptoms the first day, along with a lot of arm pain. For about two days after the shot, I struggled to lift the arm that got the vaccine over my head, and it was really tender to the touch. It was completely resolved after two days. 

Ariel, 28, is an attorney.