22-Year-Old With Coronavirus Shares How Terribly It Affected Her Despite Living A Healthy Lifestyle
Interview With Author
If you think you’re invincible just because you’re young and healthy, don’t be so sure. A 22-year-old university student shared her experience about what it’s like to come down with the coronavirus.
“You do not want to catch this,” Amy Shircel puts it plain and simple before going into detail about what she felt like and what her symptoms were day by day. Amy’s Twitter thread reached a lot of people, with more than 292.9k likes and 114k retweets at the time of writing.
She warned young people in their 20s to be careful. Especially considering that she was very ill despite living a healthy lifestyle, having no underlying conditions, and exercising every day. Scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview with Amy.
More info: Twitter | Instagram
Amy, a student from Wisconsin, explained just how badly the coronavirus affected her
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Amy, who lives and studies in Wisconsin, developed a cough, then a fever, lost her energy, started vomiting, was out of breath from moving just a tiny bit. She had to go to the emergency room twice!
Her very first symptoms started showing on March 15, some time after she came back from her trip to Europe. Four days later, her test results came back: she had Covid-19. ABC News confirmed that Amy had the coronavirus after she provided them with her test results.
Amy said she found it frustrating that some of her friends and followers aren’t staying at home which helps slow down the spread of the virus. “The importance of quarantine and actually being quarantined and not just having your boyfriend over. That’s not what it means to be in quarantine. It’s important to not be selfish and be greedy. Just be patient,” she added.
Though Amy’s feeling weaker than usual, she now has her energy and appetite back. “Honestly, for a while, I forgot what it’s like to feel healthy, so it’s been really nice.”
Amy loves to travel
Image credits: AmyShircel
Amy told Bored Panda that she is now 1 week symptom-free and feeling “so much better.”
” I still do not have all of my strength and energy back due to being sick and not eating for so long, but I am getting there! I can just tell that I am not back to 100% health yet, and it will probably be a while before I do feel 100%.”
According to Amy, for the first 12 days that she was sick, she was all alone at her apartment in Madison. “My roommates both were in quarantine at their parents’ houses. I had to stay away from my family because my mom recently had surgery on her heart, and we didn’t want to take any chances, even before I was sick.”
“On the 12th day, I felt I couldn’t take care of myself anymore, and I was too sick to be alone, so my dad picked me up and brought me to my home in Kenosha. My mom and sister had to temporarily move to the neighbors’ house, and my dad was the only one at home with me. Right now, my dad is showing no symptoms. He took everything very seriously and was very careful when having me home. Everyone else in my family is also healthy,” she said.
Amy doesn’t know why she got so ill from the virus. “I think it is so variable as to who gets what symptoms, and how severe they are. I have read about healthy people my age dying from the illness, and people my age having symptoms that are extremely mild. You also hear about elderly people recovering.”
“Basically, I have no idea why I was affected so severely. I consider myself in great health, I exercise(d) every day, I eat healthily, I am a competitive runner and competitive swimmer. I do not have any underlying health conditions, and I have never smoked or vaped. Because of this, I think it is important to note that the coronavirus does not discriminate. It does not care how young, healthy, or fit you are, if you are infected, it will run its course accordingly. This is why it is so important for everybody to take this pandemic so seriously. People are dying, people are sick, and as healthy people, we need to not be selfish and stay home. It is not that hard.”
When asked about having underlying conditions…
Image credits: Kith3r
…Amy said that she doesn’t have any and leads a healthy lifestyle
Image credits: AmyShircel
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that the people most at-risk from the coronavirus are over the age of 65 and those who have underlying medical conditions. But that doesn’t mean that anyone who’s young and healthy can’t get sick. Some might get lucky and won’t show any symptoms while others can end up just like Amy—exhausted and fearing for their lives.
There are now more than a million cases of people infected with Covid-19 around the world. The US now reports over 245k cases and more than 6k people have died from the disease.
Some Twitter users shared how Covid-19 has affected their friends and family
Image credits: Sensiablue
Lots of people hoped that Amy would feel better soon
Image credits: tonycaldwell
Image credits: MichaalPage
Image credits: RealJardChatty
Image credits: unclewaffffles
Image credits: Nqaba8953
Image credits: BendlerBlogger
Image credits: katieerk
Image credits: YiQi71
Image credits: Speakingsparkle
Image credits: FreiGuy86
Image credits: HopeHacks
That onion advice is an unproven old wives tale and I wish people would stop "advising" others to use it. As a biologist, there is nothing special about an onion (or potato, another common "remedy") that makes it "absorb bacteria" any more than any other surface. It may have antibacterial properties, but those don't manifest from simply slicing it and leaving it out. Everyone stay safe and be vigilant against misinformation, no matter how well intentioned.
I had a very mild case of the coronavirus and I spent three days thinking I would die. The other 7 days of the illness, I was completely miserable, but for three days of it, I really did think I would die. I am recovering now. Still exhausted, but I can keep food and fluids down. It is horrible and I want everyone to stay home.
"I had a very mild case of the coronavirus and I spent three days thinking I would die." Erin, that is the best possible summary of Covid-19. I wish you a reasonably quick recuperation of your health and strength!
Load More Replies...
And that is not by any means the stupidest thing that some people believe.
Load More Replies...
this is literally so scary. i keep seeing all my friends together in tiktok videos and instagram, and those people are the reason this quarantine keeps going. i hope everyone will just stay home
The problem ist, most young people think they are immortal because they are young and healthy. And their no. 1 priority is to make party - no matter what...
I wish the authorities hadn't repeated ad nauseam that the main group at risk were the elderly. The stupid generation Z doesn't need any reason to behave like idiots, but they are so selfish they believed coronavirus was a joke because it only killed old people. Some young people are responsible and caring, but most couldn't care less, unless it affects them directly.
Load More Replies...
That's really scary. I am right now in Nevada in one of the safest places, and I still don't feel like going outside. This is really scary
One unsettling thing about this virus is that some of the people who are asymptomatic seem to produce no antibodies, even three or four weeks in. The only way they even know they have it is because they live with someone who has gotten symptoms and have been tested for that reason. This lack of immune response in asymptomatic spreaders doesn't bode well for the effectiveness of a future vaccine.
trump lying about vaccines doesn't help. Recently I believe he said we have 2 millions doses ready to go. What scares me is that, to the best of my knowledge, we do not currently have vaccines for Ebola, HIV, or any corona virus. And even if we get one viruses can mutate; the flu is an excellent example. Add in that millions of people would refuse to get the vaccine if there were one and things could get worse than they are now. The only thing we can do is be careful and follow best practices.
Load More Replies...
Gday Amy, you are a very lucky Gal. Thanks for sharing your experiences with me. You are so right to say STAY AT HOME, WASH YOUR HANDS. We are lucky here in Australia,only 71 deaths so far,and the curve is flattening. Good luck Amy keep safe. Bob Pearman Queensland
thank you for sharing to make people aware. Hope you are better now.
I wish the world could see this. We see young people in our town breaking the social distancing rules. No masks, hugging each other and speaking into each other's faces. I really fear for them. They clearly think they are invincible. How sad.
She doesn’t eat healthy. she’s VEGAN. A diet which needs supplementation to be adequate. Be more honest with your facts.
People can eat healthy without eating meat. Stop beating on vegans- she might supplement the diet. Being vegan doesn't apply under 'underlain health issues'.
Load More Replies...
Going to your boyfriend house IS part of quarantine thank you very much (or at least going to the park with him
It is not quarantine unless you have been quarantined together the entire time. Going to his house sounds as though you have not. As for house versus park, it makes not difference as far as being quarantined goes, especially since you could be exposed to new people either at his house or in the park. Please don't try to win arguments be redefining what words mean. That just makes the English language sick.
Load More Replies... Yes- it's because she's vegan she got corona- way to miss the point..
Load More Replies...
That onion advice is an unproven old wives tale and I wish people would stop "advising" others to use it. As a biologist, there is nothing special about an onion (or potato, another common "remedy") that makes it "absorb bacteria" any more than any other surface. It may have antibacterial properties, but those don't manifest from simply slicing it and leaving it out. Everyone stay safe and be vigilant against misinformation, no matter how well intentioned.
I had a very mild case of the coronavirus and I spent three days thinking I would die. The other 7 days of the illness, I was completely miserable, but for three days of it, I really did think I would die. I am recovering now. Still exhausted, but I can keep food and fluids down. It is horrible and I want everyone to stay home.
"I had a very mild case of the coronavirus and I spent three days thinking I would die." Erin, that is the best possible summary of Covid-19. I wish you a reasonably quick recuperation of your health and strength!
Load More Replies... And that is not by any means the stupidest thing that some people believe.
Load More Replies... this is literally so scary. i keep seeing all my friends together in tiktok videos and instagram, and those people are the reason this quarantine keeps going. i hope everyone will just stay home
The problem ist, most young people think they are immortal because they are young and healthy. And their no. 1 priority is to make party - no matter what...
I wish the authorities hadn't repeated ad nauseam that the main group at risk were the elderly. The stupid generation Z doesn't need any reason to behave like idiots, but they are so selfish they believed coronavirus was a joke because it only killed old people. Some young people are responsible and caring, but most couldn't care less, unless it affects them directly.
Load More Replies... That's really scary. I am right now in Nevada in one of the safest places, and I still don't feel like going outside. This is really scary
One unsettling thing about this virus is that some of the people who are asymptomatic seem to produce no antibodies, even three or four weeks in. The only way they even know they have it is because they live with someone who has gotten symptoms and have been tested for that reason. This lack of immune response in asymptomatic spreaders doesn't bode well for the effectiveness of a future vaccine.
trump lying about vaccines doesn't help. Recently I believe he said we have 2 millions doses ready to go. What scares me is that, to the best of my knowledge, we do not currently have vaccines for Ebola, HIV, or any corona virus. And even if we get one viruses can mutate; the flu is an excellent example. Add in that millions of people would refuse to get the vaccine if there were one and things could get worse than they are now. The only thing we can do is be careful and follow best practices.
Load More Replies... Gday Amy, you are a very lucky Gal. Thanks for sharing your experiences with me. You are so right to say STAY AT HOME, WASH YOUR HANDS. We are lucky here in Australia,only 71 deaths so far,and the curve is flattening. Good luck Amy keep safe. Bob Pearman Queensland
thank you for sharing to make people aware. Hope you are better now.
I wish the world could see this. We see young people in our town breaking the social distancing rules. No masks, hugging each other and speaking into each other's faces. I really fear for them. They clearly think they are invincible. How sad.
She doesn’t eat healthy. she’s VEGAN. A diet which needs supplementation to be adequate. Be more honest with your facts.
People can eat healthy without eating meat. Stop beating on vegans- she might supplement the diet. Being vegan doesn't apply under 'underlain health issues'.
Load More Replies... Going to your boyfriend house IS part of quarantine thank you very much (or at least going to the park with him
It is not quarantine unless you have been quarantined together the entire time. Going to his house sounds as though you have not. As for house versus park, it makes not difference as far as being quarantined goes, especially since you could be exposed to new people either at his house or in the park. Please don't try to win arguments be redefining what words mean. That just makes the English language sick.
Load More Replies... Yes- it's because she's vegan she got corona- way to miss the point..
Load More Replies... 
87
41