Fighting Coronavirus: How It Feels

Editor’s Note: As Cleveland deals with the outbreak of the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, everyday life is being disrupted. In our new series “How It Feels,” we’re talking to students, teachers, nurses and those on the frontline of the pandemic to see what it feels like to live life in isolation and transition to new ways of working, thinking and living. 

Before the pandemic hit, Chris Schmitt was a healthy and active 38-year-old. He golfed with his son, chased his daughter around playgrounds and participated in his community. But in the blink of an eye, everything changed when he tested positive for COVID-19 on April 20. “All of the mask wearing and hand washing and social distancing and staying home just didn’t work in my case,” he says. For weeks, he fought symptoms of exhaustion, debilitating body aches and a persistent, shallow cough. Before having to spend three days in the hospital, living with his immunocompromised wife made the stakes even higher. Here, Schmitt talks to us about what it was like to have the coronavirus.

One of the most frustrating things about having this virus is there’s nothing much the medical community can do to help you with the virus itself. For the most part, it was a waiting game. As a very active person, it was so hard to just sit still and rest. [After getting tested] I sheltered in my room away from my family for nearly two weeks before my body was so weak that I was taken to the hospital for severe dehydration along with other symptoms.

My three days in the hospital were surreal. [I felt] loneliness and bouts of hopelessness. Thankfully I was able to use modern technology to stay in touch with my household, including reading books with my daughter over FaceTime and playing board games with my wife and son over Zoom. I find writing to be therapeutic, and I journaled about my experience on my social media accounts. For many people, I was the first person they knew who was sick, so sharing my story gave them a story to share. I hope at least some people made different choices for themselves and their families than they otherwise would have.

[It’s a misconception] that it only impacts older people. I’m still fairly young and it took everything I had to fight it off. Even if you don’t get symptoms, you could still harm others by passing it on as an asymptomatic carrier. People should be safe, wear a mask, wash their hands, social distance and stay home if they can. This isn’t over.

Before I left for the hospital, I looked at my napping 3-year-old daughter from the hallway and was overcome with the fear that I’d never see her again. The biggest triumph was being able to finally hug my family after 17 days in isolation. Over 100,000 Americans never got that chance, and I will be forever thankful that I’m still around to do so.