Dr. Joe Feuerstein
PHOTOGRAPH BY MORGANA WINGARD
GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT: I assume I caught Covid-19 while working in the emergency room at my hospital, but I do not know for sure. It started with a scratchy throat. I didn’t think anything of it, but one of my colleagues recommended I speak to occupational health. They recommended I go to the emergency department to make sure I didn’t have the flu. Then, they sent a nasal swab to test for Covid-19 and sent me home to self-isolate. I had a little bit of chills, a bad headache for a couple days, muscle pain, sore throat, dry cough but no fever. I did two interviews for television crews after feeling better. When I woke up the next day I was quite short of breath. I had yet to get my result of my Covid-19. After a couple hours it was clear that I really needed to go to the emergency department because I couldn’t have a conversation without having to stop and breath. I called the ED (emergency department). They told me to go in the back. I put a mask on. They checked my oxygen which was fine. They took a blood test that was fine. They made sure I didn’t have a heart attack. Then, they did a CAT scan. That showed I had viral pneumonia in both lungs with a typical pattern for Covid-19. Though I still had to wait for my positive result at that point we pretty much all realized I had gotten it.
For the next 24 hours I was constantly short of breath — even sitting down. It was like I just got off a treadmill, but it didn’t stop for hours. I isolated myself back at home and took a five day course of medication from my doctor. I never had a fever. After a week I was back at the gym and shortly after that back to work after being cleared by CDC standards.
When I went back it was absolutely nuts. I’ve worked in the ER in hospitals for about 13 years. I’ve seen everything. I’ve never seen every patient coming into the hospital admitted ever. It’s the only time I’ve never seen anything like it. No one goes home.
I’m lucky and grateful to God because a lot of other people ended up in the ICU. My best friend just got out of ICU at a hospital in New York. I also feel that I’m less worried about seeing coronavirus patients because I have some immunity to it for the initial period. I do know in the back of my mind that I’m not in the same level of danger as my colleagues -- most of whom will eventually contract this.
The point of sharing this for me is to let people know that most people are going to be okay. As long as we remember that — that’s the most important thing. Eighty percent of people are going to have a mild disease. I know that the fear can feel paralyzing. It’s important we all take this pandemic seriously, protect each other, and do what we can to flatten the curve. But, I am proof positive that you can recover and that there is the possibility for a happy ending after COVID-19.
—
10 months after surviving COVID-19, Dr. Feuerstein was in the first wave of healthcare workers to receive the vaccine. "I'm exposed to Corona every single week... I need to examine the patient and I need to go into the room and people are coughing on me. People are sneezing on me,” he said. “We just doing know how long immunity lasts and I don't want to chance it so I want to give my immune system a boost... so if I get exposed to corona it's not getting anywhere near me. This is where it starts to improve. I know it's terrible and we're in the darkest of night, but there's a light shinning and that's with the vaccination."
Dr. Joseph Feuerstein, MD, is a board certified family medicine physician who specializes in integrative medicine. He completed his medical education in London before serving for four years in the Israeli navy in two elite units as a combat physician. During the COVID-19 pandemic he worked as an emergency department and ICU doctor at Stamford Health in Connecticut.