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Sketchbook: My Coronavirus Diary (April, 2020)
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Sketchbook: My Coronavirus Diary (April, 2020)

Spoiler alert: Sophie caught it right after me, and it didn't go well!

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Jason Chatfield
Oct 12, 2022
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Washington Post Article
Click to read the article. It’s a lot. Sorry.

Preface:

In early 2020, when we knew very little about the new ‘coronavirus’, I was one of the unfortunate few who contracted “the bug”, and proceeded to get very, very sick.

I thought it was the end for me, so I started drawing up my symptoms each day in the hopes that it might be useful to people as an anecdotal reference. Then, thankfully, I recovered. But my wife got it.

I compared the onset of her symptoms to mine; they were almost identical to the hour. I refined my diary from when I was sick and drew it up to share with the world at a time when we were all scared, locked down, and in desperate need of any reliable information we could get our eyes on.*

*The word “Might” in the title of the piece was doing a lot of heavy lifting.

The following diary ended up getting published in the Washington Post and shared widely on social and traditional media as a (caveated) guide as to what one might expect as the onset of symptoms from the Alpha version of the SARS-COV-2 virus ravaged their immune system. It was later published in a book by Penn State University Press.

I’m sad to say, my agent and friend, Sandy, died from the virus just days before he was eligible to receive the vaccine. I lost a lot of other friends, and fellow New Yorkers during what is without a doubt the darkest year of our collective memories.

Important note: This is not professional medical advice. Call your doctor if you are experiencing symptoms.

First published: April 4th, 2020:

Covid-19 diary. I got the virus. If you get it, here's what you might expect to happen.
Day 1: Denial
You're sitting at the kitchen table researching covid-19 (watching French Bulldog Puppy videos on Youtube) when you get that tingle in your joints
Guy at table looking at laptop with tingles coming out of his joints saying, "It's probably nothing".

Day 2: Still denial
You're Lying in Bed... with a fever of 105 but you convince yourself only 'other' people get "the virus".
Guy lying in bed with pillow on fire "This is fine"
caption...

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We made a full recovery after 18 months of Long-COVID symptoms. We went into full isolation in an empty AirBnB for a month once we were diagnosed. The “going outside” part meant walking out on an outdoor deck in a home, alone.

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Musings of a Persian
Aug 2, 2023

My family (parents and brothers)and I got the full version of Omicron only once. What frustrated me the most were the inability to swallow easily and inability to taste foods and enjoy their flavors (I could work as a taster in a restaurant because i'm good at assessing tastes and i hate cooking or eating a food with a dominant taste).

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I hid these cards around New York and got the weirdest emails back.
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Silencing the Court Jesters.
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