She has never been in hospital bed for more than a day in her whole life, yet the computer instructor working in a Bhubaneswar-based university did not show anxiety once about her health despite spending about a month in a Covid-19 hospital.
The 30-year-old woman from Surya Nagar area of Bhubaneswar was back home on May 1 after spending 26 days in a Covid-19 special hospital in Cuttack, first with her family members and then alone. Her 60-year-old father was the first in the family to get tested positive for the coronavirus disease after showing symptoms like persistent cough and high temperature.
After he tested positive, the health authorities took the woman’s nasal swabs as well as her family members’ and of tenants in their house. On April 4, she was told that seven people in their household, including her 51-year-old mother, have tested positive for Covid-19. The other persons who tested positive were her 55-year-old uncle, 50-year-old aunt, and three other women in the tenant’s family.
“When I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance it was surprising for me as I never felt anything. There was no cold or cough or any discomfort. I have hardly been sick in my life. So this was a strange experience,” said the woman.
But more than her testing positive, she was worried over her 60-year-old father being in AIIMS Bhubaneswar all alone. “He had multiple complications including asthma, high blood pressure and diabetes. From whatever I had read, these complications were awful for anyone getting infected with Covid-19. He is mentally challenged and that worried me and my family about his capacity to cope up with the virus,” she said.
First christened as Case No 5 in government records, the state government officials later made his name public. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation commissioner PC Chaudhury, who revealed the name of 60-year-old patient said it was being done to find out if any outsiders came in contact with him apart from his family. The move, however, came in for a flak with several people slamming the government for being selective. The man, among the handful critical Covid-19 patients of Odisha was finally discharged on May 7 even though he had tested negative for the disease on April 8. However, he was under treatment for other ailments like diabetes and asthma and was discharged from the hospital on Friday after recovering from his illness.
At the hospital, the woman’s mother, aunt and uncle were the first one to recover as their swab samples tested negative within a week of admission. But her swab samples taken twice in four days after her admission tested positive again.
“I knew it would take some time before I can test negative for the virus. I had stopped checking WhatsApp messages worried over friends asking me about my health. I stuck to a schedule of yoga and pranayam in the morning followed by breakfast and then some reading about miracles of Saibaba. I used to listen to songs of Lord Jagannath. In the hospital, we were asked to gurgle with hot water 5 times a day and drink at least 5-6 litres of water. The nurses used to come to take body temperature twice a day and doctor once everyday,” she said. She tested negative twice in the end of April.
Since she returned home, the woman has been in self-quarantine. She put her WhatsApp status as ‘I am not lucky, I am blessed’. “My friends have been supportive, but some neighbours think me and my family members still carry the virus. When my family members went out after completing the quarantine, some neighbours complained how we can be allowed out. It was a little unsettling,” she said.
Now raring to join her workplace after the lockdown is over, the woman said there people should not be scared of the disease. “I implore all people to have faith in the doctors and the nursing staff, who are doing a commendable job in containing the disease. If my father who had several complications could be cured, others too. No one should hide in their homes to avoid being hospitalised.”
