COVID-19 has changed the world like never before. Many theorists and scientists warned that we weren’t prepared for a pandemic, and this, unfortunately, turned out to be the truth.

With the virus being so new to us all, even the experts are struggling to understand how it works. We’re learning new things every day as it continues to progress and evolve.

One of the easiest ways to understand the impact is to look at the statistics. The number of people diagnosed in every country around the world. The death toll. The recovery rate.

Along with these statistics come the stories. We’re thankful to have learned about some of the miracle recoveries from the virus, and heard of how the pandemic has got us working together and spreading kindness like never before.

But when it comes to the virus itself, we hear very little from the people who have had the virus and survived. What happens afterwards? Are these people able to go back to life as if nothing had ever happened?

One man, Barry Mangione, wanted to explain the truth.

Mangione is a pediatric physical therapist. At 50 years old and in full health, he contracted the virus just over a month ago. You may assume that Mangione would have no difficulty getting over the virus, but, as he explained on a post he shared to Facebook, this is far from the reality.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157600548194272&set=a.10150448110574272&type=3

Mangione wrote:

COVID19 is a continuum.

I want to hopefully shed some light amid the confusion. There is a continuum of COVID19 in between ‘you die’ and ‘you get over it and return to normal.’ Today is day 31 for me. I tested negative on day 27. Yesterday out of nowhere, I was hit with crippling fatigue and chills. My cough is almost gone, and I’ve been fever-free for two weeks, but when it comes to COVID19, testing negative doesn’t mean it’s over.

He added:

For all who talk about wanting it to spread among the healthy to encourage ‘herd immunity,’ let me ask you: if you get sick with COVID19, how do you know how sick you’ll get? I’m a healthy 50 year old with no underlying medical conditions. Those of you who know me know that I am passionately devoted to developing and maintaining mental, physical, and spiritual health.

Mangione went into more detail about how the virus had affected him physically. He said that before COVID-19, he had struggled with some insomnia, but he could still “rock” a busy day at work. Now, according to Mangione, he isn’t managing a full night’s sleep, and he’s exhausted from simply sitting on his desk and communicating with his patients on Zoom.

He added that there are a whole host of symptoms of the virus that many people might be unfamiliar with, saying:

I talk to other COVID19 survivors who still experience symptoms after 30, even 40 days, symptoms like kidney pain, fevers, coughing, fatigue, shortness of breath, headaches, circulation problems, loss of smell, loss of taste, body aches, rashes, back pain…

This is not an all-or-nothing virus. It’s not ‘you die’ or ‘you don’t die.’ When we see the numbers of people who’ve ‘recovered from COVID19’ posted to illustrate how it’s not that bad, those numbers don’t take the lingering health issues and symptoms into account.

Mangione decided to be honest about how COVID-19 had affected him because he wanted people to think twice about flaunting social distancing rules and not wearing masks in public.

He said:

I’m not looking for sympathy or trying to scare anyone, and I don’t want to diminish the memories of those who’ve died or the pain felt by their loved ones. I grieve for them all. What I hope I’m doing is giving you another tool in addition to gloves, masks, and social distancing to keep yourselves, your loved ones, and all of us safe and healthy: knowledge that this is real, knowledge that we don’t know enough about it yet, and that the continuum of COVID19 is more complicated than dead versus ‘recovered.’

It’s a lengthy but important read. Mangione’s message is clear: it’s worth being safe to avoid the risk of catching the virus, even if you consider yourself to be healthy.

We couldn’t agree with him more. Until a vaccine has been developed for COVID-19, we need to look out for ourselves and our peers as much as possible. This means following the rules that will help us to bid the virus goodbye.

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Source: Upworthy, Facebook/ Barry Mangione