The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone’s lives this year in ways both big and small. Since the beginning of the year, over 18,000 Manitobans have tested positive for the virus - while many only experience mild symptoms - others are hit significantly harder.

Chris is one of several Southern Manitobans who shared his experience with the virus with Portage Online.

"My experience was kind of a mixture of a cold and the flu," he explains, outlining the symptoms. "I had chills and fever, and a headache. The headache was probably the worst, it lasted for about four days. [I experienced] general tiredness, stuffed up nose, that kind of stuff."

Chris shares he decided to get tested after waking up and feeling rundown one morning at the end of October.

"I felt like something was off," says Chris, "so I went for my test that night. It went fine and I just went home to self-isolate until I got my results. I got tested on the Friday and I got the results Wednesday morning."

Chris says he was able to shake the virus fairly quickly, noting a week after receiving the positive test result, the only symptom remaining was the sniffles. In terms of side-effects since recovering from COVID, Chris says he has had the occasional headache similar to the ones he experienced with the virus, adding he didn't often get headaches beforehand.

He encourages people to remember to wear their masks in public, adding hopefully such a small action can make a difference.

Meanwhile, for couple Janet and Murray, their experiences with COVID-19 made for quite the rollercoaster ride.

"All the symptoms hit you fast, and then they change fast, and then you feel better fast, and then sick again fast. It's very weird," Janet says of the virus.

She and Murray were tested for COVID early in November after Murray began experiencing flu-like symptoms.

"I thought I wasn't positive at all, that it was just a regular flu," says Murray. "I was in total shock that I was positive because I was really sick for only three days and the rest of the time it was off and on."

For Janet, the positive result didn't come as a shock. She explains, even though she felt fine, she decided to go for a test as a precaution.

"Later that night [after the test], it hit me really hard. That's the one thing I felt was different from a regular flu; COVID hits you like BANG! I was feeling fine then, all of a sudden, a headache came on really fast. Then, a backache came on, and I never get backaches with the flu," explains Janet. "One minute you're fine, the next minute, I'm taking a breath and I'm coughing like crazy. It was shocking, so I knew it was something weird."

She notes just when they'd start to feel better, a new symptom would show up. The recovery process has also not been a speedy one. Janet explains she lost her sense of taste five days after receiving the positive test result. Three weeks later, it was only starting to return. For Murray, it was the fatigue that took a while to overcome, something he especially noticed as a volunteer firefighter.

As to where they contracted the virus, Janet says they're still wracking their brains.

"I'm a firm believer in being careful," she notes. "I work in Steinbach and it's a hot spot, but we've been relatively careful; we're always standing six feet apart, we're wearing masks, we're hand sanitizing, so you can't be careful enough."

Murray adds while his experience with COVID wasn't as bad as it could have been, he and Janet say they personally know people in their early 70s who have had much more severe cases and who have even passed away because of it.

 

"It is serious, and the older you get, the more serious it gets," says Janet, "so even if you're not old, for the sake of your parents and grandparents, be careful."