A man who thought the coronavirus “would disappear the day after the election” has been hospitalized with the virus for more than two weeks and said he now needs medical oxygen for the rest of his life.
Paul Russell, 63, of Boise, Idaho, told the Idaho statesman: “Before I came down with the virus, I was one of the jackasses who thought the virus would disappear the day after the election. I was one of those conspiracy theorists. “
But he was hospitalized with the coronavirus a week after the November 3 election, statesman Audrey Dutton reports.
—Audrey Dutton (@audreydutton) March 9, 2021
Russell said he returned from work as a long-distance tractor when he began to feel unwell, quarantining himself in a caravan he owned with his wife.
He did a test that came back positive, and a few days later felt so bad that he asked his wife to take him to the hospital, where he received intensive care.
A nurse called him to his wife, and Russell said she told him how much she loved him, ‘because she did not know if I would go through the night. ‘
In total, he spent 16 days at St Luke’s Boise Medical Center, the statesman reported.
He also enrolled in a clinical trial to test the effects of an immunosuppressive agent on the virus.
He could go home on Thanksgiving Day and have dinner with his family: “It was the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had.”
But Russell said he is still living with the effects of the virus.
He said: “According to my doctor, I will have oxygen for the rest of my life.”
Russell added: “Life is not good right now. Except for one thing: I live.”
Some people infected with the coronavirus continue to experience symptoms for weeks and months thereafter, called ‘long COVID’. Symptoms include fatigue, dizziness, pain and memory problems.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says that “patients may have symptoms that can last weeks or even months after recovery from acute illness.”
And it notes that some people experience ‘more serious long-term complications’, including inflammation of the heart muscle and depression and anxiety.
One study published in February found that 76% of COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital in Wuhan, China, had at least one symptom of the virus six months after they first became ill.
This puts additional pressure on healthcare systems that are already overwhelmed by the treatment of virus patients.