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Date is exactly
2020-01-04
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2020-01-04
A pot, some water, eucalyptus oil, and a towel....breathe
My brother and I went to visit our parents in Florida for Christmas in 2019. We flew out of Clarksburg, WV on December 23rd and arrived in Florida a few hours later. Christmas in Florida with our parents was great, but eventually we learned it came at a cost. We returned to the Orlando airport to leave December 30th and our flight was delayed for three hours with no real explanation as to why. We roamed the Airport and kept ourselves occupied before we were finally able to board the plane. We landed safely back in WV a few hours later. However, a day or two after returning I started to feel sick which got progressively worse. I had trouble breathing and my body ached so much that I could barely sleep. I didn’t have the strength to really do anything, and I hardly ate because I couldn’t taste or smell. I called my mom at some point and told her how sick I was, and she told me that my brother was extremely sick too. She pleaded with me to go to the doctor, but I told her it was probably just the flu and I’d be ok. My mother knew I wasn’t going to go to the doctor any time soon, so she told me to use some Eucalyptus oil to help with my congestion and respiratory issues. I grabbed a large pot and boiled some water. After the water had boiled, I added drops of eucalyptus essential oil. With a towel over my head, I began to take in the vapors, and slowly I started to feel like I could breathe once again. This became my ritual for the next week or so. I was probably doing this 3-4 times a day when I had the strength to leave my bed. I believe I was sick for nearly two weeks. The day before I finally started to feel better, I almost went to the hospital because I legitimately thought I was dying. Anyways, after news of the pandemic started ramping up, I later found out that Florida had their first Covid-19 cases in December 2019. I’m guessing that airport delay ultimately sealed our fates and that’s where my brother and I ended up getting Covid (our parents didn’t get sick). For my post I’ve included an audio file recreating my Covid ritual of boiling water and breathing in eucalyptus vapors. You can hear the water boiling, the glass bottle of eucalyptus oil being opened and then placed on the counter. You can hear a slight rustling from the towel and me taking in the vapors. -
2020-01-04
Battling COVID Before It Was "Mainstream"
A few days after New Years 2020, I was working at RPM Italian as a polisher. The night was slightly busy but the night sky was cold. Being a polisher, my uniform would often get wet and seeing how part of my job was to throw out the linen bags, I would walk out into the cold with my wet uniform. The following days, I developed a cough and grew more persistent over time. At the time, I was prone to getting bronchitis because of an existing respiratory condition I have. I thought nothing of it and being a frequent news reader I was aware of a "pneumonia-like virus" breaking out in China, but I thought nothing of it. Over the next days, I realized that my apatite was lost and barely ate dinner because it felt that I had already eaten a large lunch. My wife chuckle and said it was probably my self-diagnosed lung infection. Thing is, I've had lung infections before and I NEVER lost my apatite. Around the same time, my father who rarely gets sick, came home from work early after getting a 103 f fever and was bedridden for three days. My little brother soon followed with my mom losing her sense of taste which she attributed to allergies or "the flu" as we thought my father and brother had. Then, on the day Kobe Bryant died, I developed a massive fever of 105 f and my coughing grew worse. I lost my apatite, I rarely slept, I had developed extreme body aches, felt chess pressure and often found myself grasping for air. My wife said that I may have developed pneumonia and I was reluctant to get it checked out because I had no insurance. Fearing for my health, I went to my healthcare provider Erie Health Center. There, I expected to be diagnosed with bronchitis, an upper respiratory tract infection or worst case scenario pneumonia. However, when the doctor saw my condition and heard my symptoms he said that it wasn't: pneumonia, bronchitis or a lung infection. Baffled I said then what do I have and he responded with: "mhmmmmm do you have asthma?" I said I did when I was younger but I out grew it. His response: "That's it. It's asthma". Unsatisfied, I said its not it because I haven't had any asthma complications in over a decade. He later said that a lung operation I had when I was three days old might be the culprit. Once again, I questioned it. He conceded and asked if I wanted to get x-rays done. I agreed and went to Northwestern Medical Center with Erie covering the costs. I got my x-rays done and I decided to go have lunch with my wife. Then, I started coughing, lost my apatite and developed a fever. We took an uber and went home were I collapsed on my bed and was knocked out cold in a nice sleep for 20 hours. The cough never went away until late February when talks of a potential lockdown to contain COVID was being discussed. I never thought much of what I had that winter until my mom got an anti-body test where she came out positive for the anti-bodies. The same day we watched a COVID special on Netflix and they highlighted the COVID symptoms. The ones that stuck out to me was: loss of apatite, chest pressure, fatigue, coughing, short-breaths, fever and trouble focusing. I clicked everything and realized: "Holy shit. I must've had COVID before it was cool" (ironically). Ever since my illness as I described, my mind has become more "foggy" with me having trouble focusing, remembering and even stuttering more often. Trouble focusing has been mentioned as a COVID complication in your post-battle with the infection. Fast forward to February 2021, I went back to Erie to get my yearly physical done expecting to hear my sugar levels were off the charts. Except, my doctor walked in and first thing he said was: "so you had problems breathing in last year January?" I gave him a stare and asked "you don't think that I had..." and he interrupted and said "sir, you either had COVID before we knew what it was or you had some exotic virus" mentioning the latter in a sarcastic tone. There I realized, how chill I took COVID and literally brushed it off multiple times as a lung infection and nothing serious when in reality it was. Had I known what I had was COVID at the time that I had it, I would have been panicking and picturing death at my door. Often, your mindset can be just as dangerous as the illness itself. -
2020-01-04
US: Church pastor serially violates COVID-19 ordinances
Pastor Tony from Louisiana was issued a summons because he was carrying services at his church which violated the governors orders. He claims he needs to keep his church doors open for those who are needy and whos souls are lost. A lot fo people gathered at the church because they said they had a right to do so because of the constituion. Pastor added on that his church is cleaner than grocery stores and gas stations that remain open.