A father who fell victim to the deadly SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has revealed what it's really like to contract the disease, which has infected more than 14.3 million people throughout the ongoing global pandemic.
Casey Hines, his wife Susan and their two sons, Ethan and Carson, all contracted the virus despite stringently adhering to lockdown protocol.
The Connecticut-based family did everything to follow the rules after the state was placed under strict quarantine in mid-March, Hines explained in a candid Facebook post.
Carson, 17, was the first to contract the disease - yet despite his young age, the teen was "in agony" and "labouring to breathe", Hines wrote. He was later assessed by an ER doctor, but was not admitted to hospital.
Ethan was the next to fall ill, his temperature hovering just under 39 degrees. Hines said the teen was sweating profusely and could barely sit at the dinner table.
"Literally, a parent's worst nightmare," he wrote. "I've never seen him look worse - alternating between grey and beet red."
In another blow, Susan contracted COVID-19 as her sons battled the virus.
"She called it 'The Wave' as every morning and every afternoon her body was literally overcome with misery," he wrote.
"You could watch it take over - within minutes, she'd lose all her color and turn ashen. Susan doesn't get sick, she doesn’t complain about anything, she is the consummate source of positivity."
Assuming he was asymptomatic, Hines did his best to care for his family while maintaining stringent hygiene measures in the home. Yet his efforts were in vain, as he eventually also fell ill.
Beginning with a 39.5 degree fever, Hines could "barely get out of bed" and experienced extreme fatigue.
Recounting one particularly difficult night, the father "could not get more than a morsel of air in or out" of his lungs. For the next four days, he says he barely moved from the couch, even collapsing one evening.
"I lay there shaking so severely that I just wanted to crawl in a hole and die. I am not kidding - it was that bad," he shared.
"My lungs were on fire... the feeling of someone sitting on my chest - a dry, miserable cough that hurt in every possible way, a fever that wouldn't break. The shivering... so violent that it literally hurt my teeth. I'll never forget the shaking."
Although the Hines have since recovered from the virus, the father-of-two said his lungs still fail to perform the same as they did pre-COVID.
Hines says he is grateful for his family's health, noting that the disease would be unimaginably "terrifying" for the elderly or immuno-compromised.
Anyone who thinks COVID-19 is "just a flu" is wrong, Hines wrote.
"I beg of you to stay safe and stay home as much as possible and for God's sakes, wear a mask.
"It's not like anything you've ever had - and I guarantee you it's not anything you ever want."
