Thread by @DavidLat

I was in good shape before I came down with #COVID19 -- and I suspect I might have contracted the #coronavirus at the gym, to which I was going multiple times a week.

https://twitter.com/AnaCabrera/status/1284203797934419968

It's true my marathon-running days were in the distant past (I finished the NYC marathon twice) -- but I was still in good shape before #COVID19 landed me in the hospital for almost 3 weeks, including 6 days in the ICU on a ventilator, in critical condition.

I was not overweight, I went to the gym three to six times a week, and all my blood work at my annual physical was normal. Here are my before and after #COVID photos (I lost 15 pounds while sick):

Of course, I'm just one person, I had a history of asthma (although well managed), and the likelihood of any given healthy individual having a severe case of #COVID19 is low. That's all true.

#COVID #Covid_19 #coronavirus

But you don't necessarily know in advance how susceptible you are to #COVID19. Sometimes it's healthy people with strong immune systems who experience the "cytokine storm" that threw me for a loop.

#COVID #Covid_19 #coronavirus

I remember telling friends over dinner before I got sick, "For many people, #COVID19 is just a bad flu -- I can deal with that."

I turned out to be very, very wrong.

#Covid_19 #COVID #COVID__19 #coronavirus

And, to my great regret, I might have given the #coronavirus to others at the gym, as well as having gotten it at the gym.

https://twitter.com/HarmlessErr_er/status/1284234681316184066

I did a high-intensity interval training class during a period when I was probably contagious with #COVID19 (but not really symptomatic yet). So I was in a packed exercise studio with lots of other people, panting like crazy (because it was a HIIT class).

We were pretty stupid about #COVID19 in early March.

And, sadly, we might be pretty stupid about #COVID today.

Look, I really loved going to the gym. I still miss it today.

But here's one thing I don't understand about @GovRonDeSantis's not closing gyms.

It's FLORIDA, where you can exercise OUTDOORS, which is much safer than the gym, YEAR-ROUND.

I understand the "let people make their own decision" argument about the gym. And I'm not unsympathetic to such perspectives. I don't hate freedom, and I don't like paternalism.

But the problem is the externalities.

#COVID #COVID19 #Covid_19 #coronavirus

Maybe young, healthy gym goers are willing to assume the risk for themselves. If they get #COVID19, maybe we won't feel as bad for them.

But we still need to treat them if they get sick, which will increase the burden on hospitals.

#Covid_19 #coronavirus

And it's quite likely they'll give it to older or more vulnerable people, especially in reopened states where more interaction is taking place. They'll get sick in turn, further taxing the hospitals and healthcare system.

#COVID19 #coronavirus

We do have evidence suggesting #COVID19 transmission through exercise classes or facilities can happen.

Check out this study, "Cluster of #Coronavirus Disease Associated with Fitness Dance Classes."

bit.ly/2WuLkgz

#COVID #Covid_19

So, with all due respect to folks who feel differently, it seems to me that keeping gyms open in a state where #COVID19 cases and deaths are rising seems... unwise.

n.pr/2OCL7TW

#COVID #COVID19 #coronavirus

A personal perspective from a former gym janitor:

https://twitter.com/Nobody5000/status/1284312801683468288

In response to the "you were stupid/selfish to go to the gym" tweets: YES, I WAS, and I sure wish I hadn't!

But just for context, I contracted #coronavirus in late February or early March. It was a very different time in #COVID19 history.

When I started showing #COVID symptoms, there were about 50 confirmed cases in NYC -- a city of 8.5 million.

I was one of the first 1,000 cases in New York State, which has now had more than 410,000 confirmed cases.

#COVID19 #COVID__19 #coronavirus

Experts were still telling people that wearing masks wasn't necessary.

@NYGovCuomo's #StayAtHome order didn't come down until weeks later.

I was the 8th or so #COVID19 patient at @NYULangone, which went on to tread 100s (if not 1000s) of patients.

When I called my primary care doctor and asked about #coronavirus, they told me I most likely had a flu that had turned into bronchitis, and gave me some antibiotics and cough syrup.

(Yes, I'm getting a new primary-care doctor.)

#COVID #COVID19 #Covid_19

So although it was stupid and selfish of me to have gone to the gym, I was making a mistake that many other New Yorkers were making in late February and early March -- which is partly why New York got hit so badly by #coronavirus.

#COVID #COVID19 #Covid_19

It is more stupid and selfish to make the same mistake today.

And I sure wish that some elected official had told me, in late February or early March, "SORRY, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO THE GYM."

#coronavirus #COVID #COVID19 #Covid_19