The Coronavirus Sidelined Me From My Work as a Doctor. Soon I ’ll Be Back on the Frontlines

On March 11 I started my day at 6 a.m. with my usual busy calendar: rounding on patients in the hospital, attending meetings, hopping on a quick conference call, then heading off to the operating room. I was energized by my morning coffee and felt great. By mid-afternoon, everything was different. I had terrible body aches, fever, sudden fatigue. It was an effort just to walk to my car, parked three blocks away. A few more hours and I was short of breath. I saw my local physician in urgent care, and within minutes she was able to rule out two of the three likely culprits: influenza and strep. Five days earlier, the President announced that anyone who wanted a COVID-19 test could get one. The reality was different. “We don’t have access to the test,” I was told. My doctor could not offer any alternative testing options. After another day of searching, I was able to be tested. The swab had to be sent out of state – there were no local labs that were able to run the test with a quick turnaround time. While I waited, I self-quarantined at home. The fever broke after a few days and I felt better only to be knocked down with round two: a sore throat, a hacking deep chest cough, and trouble taking a deep breath. Still no test result. Due to the backlog in our nation’s testing system, it took nine more days to confirm what had become evident: I was infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. I was one of the first few dozen New Yorkers to ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 feature Source Type: news