Thread by @drcarroll

I have Covid.

I am typically quite active on @Twitter, and I hope maybe you've noticed I've been quiet this week. I'd like to let you know about my experience w/ this dangerous illness, and BA.5, what I just suffered and am still recovering from so maybe it'll help you. 🧵 1/13

On July 10th, I awoke around 2am with a pounding heart, racing thoughts, and I just didn't feel right. I thought maybe I just had too much caffeine or too much stress. After some struggle, I fell back asleep, and slept an additional 7 hours. 2/13

That day, I began experiencing some mild congestion. Not knowing if I was sick or not, I started wearing a mask and just avoided my wife and two boys in the home. I tested with both antigen and PCR tests and was negative for both. I'm quadruply vaccinated, so felt reassured. 3/13

But that night I slept in isolation. Through the night, I had high fever of 102-103, body aches, congestion, cough, and a severe headache and severe sore throat. I tested Monday morning, and now I was positive. I had Covid. For the very first time. My luck had run out. 4/13

Tuesday was even worse. What was wrong with me? I'm quadruply vaccinated. I'm in very good health. I'm 51 years old. No respiratory disease. At the insistence of Dr. WV observing my decline, I received bebtelovimab infusion. Thank goodness. It made all the difference. 5/13

Wednesday morning, my headache was gone, my cough improved, my fever gone and my body aches and severe fatigue resolved. I was left with severe sore throat, like swallowing broken glass shards, congestion, blurry vision, mild cough. And this kept going into this weekend. 6/13

Today, Sunday, I'm very mildly antigen positive. I'll maintain my isolation today on Day 8. My wife has not gotten ill. She had also been quadruply vaccinated, but has the added immunity from a previous infection. Nonetheless, no one should have to suffer this variant. 7/13

I am surprised at how severe this illness is, even in someone as healthy as I feel I am. I am hopeful we can continue to keep up with vaccinations and monoclonals. It'll be the key to keeping our mortality count as low as possible. We are not back to normal. 8/13

And after this 30 month pandemic, we shouldn't expect that things will ever be the same. Healthcare needs to be apolitical and amoral. We need to provide care steeped in science and free of bias. More than 1 million dead Americans proves that past policies have been wrong. 9/13

I don't just mean anti-mask and anti-vax policies. I mean policies driven by our most trusted institutions, such as the CDC, being influenced by our branches of government. Science needs to be as blind as the law is supposed to be. We know that's not true of them either. 10/13

And the power and influence for that needs to come from the people. You need to demand our scientific institutions are run by people appointed by their peers, not by our politicians. Those judgements must be unbiased, both politically and financially. 11/13

I will get better and will be wiser about the illness as a result, immunologically and judgmentally. I will continue to advocate loudly for vaccines, monoclonals, research, & for patient messaging & for the rights of people to get the care they need, whenever and wherever. 12/13

If you are a physician, please do the same. Our patients depend on us to care for them as well as advocate loudly for their needs. And as we pursue healthcare as a human right, this and other forms and types of care, must be inclusive, despite the political winds that blow. 13/13