We may know someone who was diagnosed with COVID-19 or suspect they’ve had it. Jamie Pickering got a positive diagnosis and suffered what she calls a mild case. But she says it was still worse than the flu. I spoke to her about her experience.
Jamie Pickering is 44-years-old and works in a veteran’s administration medical clinic in the Durango area. Her symptoms began with what she believed to be a sinus infection from seasonal allergies. She gets those every spring, and the symptoms are typically sinus pressure, sore throat, some sneezing, and a slight fever.
But things soon took a turn for the worse, as she explains. Soon she was racked with body aches and started having breathing problems. This particularly worried Pickering. She has asthma and had heard that COVID-19 was particularly hard on people with lung problems. Her sense of taste disappeared, and she had no appetite for almost two weeks.
Finally, she started feeling better. She wondered: was it COVID-19? She tested positive. So did eight of the 12 employees at the Veteran’s Administration clinic where she worked. It had become a coronavirus “hotspot.”
Some people wave off the severity of COVID, saying it’s “just the flu.” Jamie Pickering disagrees. She says even mild cases such as hers left her miserable for two weeks.
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I’m reporting on the impact of the coronavirus in the Four Corners region for KSUT Public Radio. The stories and audio here were previously aired and published by KSUT. Stories are archived at Open Range News.