An Australian woman who tested positive for COVID-19 three times says she "just wants it to be over".
Mirabai Nicholson-McKellar, from New South Wales (NSW), first developed symptoms in mid-March after she returned from Germany. She tested positive for the virus, and later thought she'd recovered on April 25 after she received a letter from health officials, ABC reports.
She says it was very exciting to leave isolation after several weeks even though she still felt slightly fatigued.
But only three days later and six weeks after she first showed symptoms, she ended up in hospital and tested positive for COVID-19 a second time.
"The second positive test was quite disappointing. I'm alone, I'm in pain, my chest hurts. I've never had this sensation before; fatigue and brain fog and I just want to rest all day," Nicholson-McKellar told ABC.
NSW Health says 95 percent of all infected people recover after six weeks, but if a patient tests positive 60 days after being diagnosed, it's possible they're still infectious and they should remain in isolation.
Nicholson-McKellar says one of the most challenging things for her with having the virus is there's a lot that isn't known about it and it makes you feel "really vulnerable".
On Monday, which was 68 days since her first diagnosis, she tested positive for COVID-19 a third time.
She says she's received inconsistent medical advice throughout this period.
"It's really such a struggle, with so much unknown and people and doctors and the health profession not being able to answer these questions of when will I recover? When am I going to stop being contagious? Am I still contagious? They don't even know that and I don't know that and it's really challenging."
She's now joined Body Politic COVID Support Group, an international forum for COVID-19 sufferers, to help with weeks of isolation and feeling mentally alone.
"I can't tell you how incredibly important that was for me to not feel alone… To hear and share my experience and hear other people's experiences has been so incredibly supportive."
She's been in isolation for over two months now and wants her ordeal to end, saying she wants to be better and "wants it to be over".
