LIFE WITH THE VIRUS
Local coronavirus victims are pleading with Geelong residents to follow restrictions, revealing the physical and mental toll the virus has taken on them
LOCALS diagnosed with COVID-19 — including mum Tara (pictured) — have opened up about the challenges of their battle with the virus.
LYING in the back of an ambulance, after becoming so breathless she could barely speak, Tara feared she was going to die.
The 35-year-old Geelong mum of three was diagnosed with coronavirus on July 20.
Tara, who did not want her surname published, was tested after learning a friend she had seen in recent days had tested positive for COVID-19.
She said she had maintained 1.5m from the friend, and was with them for less than 15 minutes. It is thought touching a shared surface infected Tara.
Coronavirus drained the fit and healthy mum of her energy.
“I was very lethargic for two weeks, I was basically sitting there all day,” Tara said.
She also had a snotty nose, a sore throat and a dry cough.
“I had really bad headaches, like someone was bashing a brick into my head repeatedly and they wouldn’t go away,” Tara said.
“I had nausea and I lost my sense of smell and still don’t have it back, and have been told that can last months.”
“The biggest thing has been no energy whatsoever, none.
“Being only 35 and pretty fit that’s been the toughest thing.”
The day she was hospitalised, July 25, Tara said she had “actually felt really good”.
“I vacuumed for the first time and hung out washing, but pushed myself too far,” she said.
“I started to get chest pain, it felt like being winded.
“It felt like something was stuck in my throat.”
Tara was “gasping for air”. “I didn’t want to panic my children and was trying to slowly take breaths,” she said.
“I couldn’t put two words together.”
She was struggling to ask her children to call the ambulance, and through laboured breath, called 000.
Paramedics decked out in personal protective equipment (PPE) came and put Tara in the ambulance, transporting her to Geelong hospital.
“Once I was in the ambulance, I was thinking, ‘Am I going to die?’
“It took four hours to be able to put words together, I was having to communicate by writing stuff on my phone.”
Tara, who is an asthmatic, was in hospital overnight, and did not require intensive care.
She praised the support she has received from Barwon Health throughout her coronavirus ordeal, and urged the community to take the pandemic seriously.
“This has really knocked me, I’ve never been so sick in my whole life,” Tara said.
Tara, who has strictly followed public health rules throughout the pandemic, warned Geelong to follow the restrictions.
“You don’t know how coronavirus is going to affect you, doesn’t matter how old you are,” she said.
“You can’t get people back once they’re gone.
“Just stay home.
“If you found out you had COVID-19 and needed to trace back everywhere you had been for the past two weeks and everyone you had seen, potentially putting them at risk, ask yourself, ‘Is it worth it?’”
NURSE Aimee learnt she had contracted coronavirus after conducting coronavirus testing at Melbourne public housing towers struck by the virus.
Aimee worked decked out in PPE that led to blisters on her forehead and pressure sores on her face.
But on July 23, she received the dreaded phone call confirming routine testing had established she had coronavirus.
The Newcomb 36-year-old, who initially was asymptomatic, said the virus was physically “very draining”.
“The biggest thing about it was fatigue and aches and pains,” she said.
“When I found out I had it, I had no symptoms, but within a couple of days it was congestion, ulcers in my nose and mouth. It really hits you for six.”
Aimee, who also did not want her surname published, is a casual nurse for an agency.
She described working at the public housing towers as “really full on”.
“As a nurse, if you’re going to work in that environment you inevitably think there’s a possibility you’ll get the virus,” she said.
Aimee was disappointed, but not surprised, when she received the diagnosis.
“In the end you did everything you could … the weight of PPE you’re wearing is just incredible,” she said.
Aimee said the coronavirus crisis in Victoria was getting to “a scary point”.
“Socially distance, keep away from each other, follow the guidelines of the government,” she said.
EMILY found herself in the middle of a social media firestorm after receiving her coronavirus diagnosis. The 25year-old Geelong woman was tested on July 18, after her dad, whose work requires travel to Melbourne, came down with cold-like symptoms.
Emily and her mum received their positive test results the following day, while her dad’s case was confirmed the day after that.
Her symptoms began two days after testing positive, and included “really heavy” and painful headaches, and a dry cough.
“With my dad, he said it felt like a long common cold, and my mum, she had cold symptoms and a headache,” Emily said.
The trio all lost their sense of taste — “the weirdest feeling in the world” — and Emily said it was not known whether hers would fully return.
“It’s scary to think you’re not going to be able to fully taste food again,” she said.
The evening before her dad showed symptoms and she was tested, Emily visited the lounge at Sailors’ Rest in Geelong.
After testing positive, she informed the venue of her case, and the venue enacted procedures including closing the lounge, cleaning, and testing staff, and informed the community a case had visited the venue.
“I probably shouldn’t have, but I did read the comments, and the Geelong community could have taken it a lot better than they did,” Emily, who did not want her surname published, said.
She said commenters were claiming the case must have come from Melbourne, and were incorrectly alleging Sailors’ Rest didn’t check IDs.
Emily said people needed to treat coronavirus patients with compassion, and that stoking online hysteria was not helpful.
“It made me feel guilty for being diagnosed but it wasn’t my fault,” she said.
ALTHOUGH tragic outbreaks in aged care are dominating headlines, coronavirus is sweeping through young people such as Emily, Tara and Aimee.
Barwon Health head of infectious diseases Eugene Athan said the median age of people with COVID-19 in the Geelong region was 35 years, and the most common age group with the virus in Victoria was people aged between 20 and 29.
“The hospital admission rate for local cases of COVID-19 is 3 per cent,” Professor Athan said.
“While some people have lasting effects after recovering from COVID-19, most people recover well.”
Prof Athan said Barwon Health’s follow-up research project had recently been funded by the state government to explore the impacts on people in our community.
Barwon Health is teaming up with Deakin University to investigate the lasting biological, physiological and psychological effects of the virus.
“The evidence suggests we will observe a drop in local COVID-19 cases after two weeks of our current Stage 3 restrictions,” he said.