It seems the only guarantee with getting the coronavirus (COVID-19) is that the severity and number of symptoms are decided by a roll of the dice.
It seems that for some, the virus that has locked down the country merely gave them a headache, some congestion and made them tired. For others -- who say they were in good health before -- experienced high fevers, fainting, trouble breathing, lost their sense of smell or taste or generally just felt “like death.”
Earlier this month Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer addressed the increasing numbers of hospital admissions of younger patients contracting more virulent variants of the virus.
"This is a reminder that COVID-19 can impact people of all ages, and severe illness can occur at any age," Tam said.
'Younger people think they are invincible'
According to the BCCDC, 20 to 29-year-olds have the highest distribution of the virus making up 28,870 cases across the country and the 30-39 age group holds the second-highest distribution at 23,475 cases. Together these ages make up 40 per cent of the province’s total. Far from a problem local only to British Columbia, physicians across the country have taken to social media to drive home this is not a virus that attacks just the weak or the old.
"Younger people think they are invincible," tweeted Dr. Kevin McLeod, an internal medicine specialist in Vancouver. "That feeling quickly fades when we are blasting you with 100% oxygen ... and all you really hear is a team debating pros and cons of intubating you and hooking you up to a ventilator."
Younger people think they are invincible. That feeling quickly fades when we are blasting you with 100% oxygen and your saturation’s are sitting high 80’s and all you really hear is a team debating pros and cons of intubating you and hooking you up to a ventilator.
— Kevin Mcleod (@dockevinmcleod) April 4, 2021
A recent post on Reddit shone some light on how people in those age groups were affected by the virus directly asking “How hard did COVID-19 hit ya'll?”
“I am not sure how some people are asymptomatic, I literally feel like I got hit by a train,” said Reddit user cudimakesemsayohoh who fell ill with COVID-19 earlier this week. “I am incredibly healthy in my opinion, I exercise heavily 5-6 times a week and have a very clean diet.”
A 35-year old Reddit user posted they had headaches, a sore throat, conjunctivitis and joint pain.
“For a few months after, I had chest pain (had to have heart tests), I had a hard time peeing, and have scarring in my lungs.”
'Could barely walk without fainting'
A poster named Larshere shared their experience in the thread saying they felt fine one day and the next they felt like they had been “hit by a truck.”
“Could barely walk without fainting, chills, trouble breathing, etc. It was over a year ago and haven't been sick since,” they said.
Sharing in the “hit by a truck” sentiment, a 29-year-old Redditor added their heart rate would randomly spike to over 100 beats per minute.
“Days 6-15 were basically no smell or taste and insane tiredness and brain fog,” they wrote. “Overall it was pretty rough but still feel like I got off lucky.”
With files from the Canadian Press
Related: Sudden COVID-19 death of 46-year-old father at home leaves Metro Vancouver family devastated
