SAN DIEGO — COVID-19 patients are finding out one person's COVID experience may be very different from another person's experience. The list of symptoms for the latest surge of the COVID-19 omicron variant include sore throats, body aches and fatigue.
For one local couple, not only are they still learning each other but they have to do that with coronavirus. Matt McDonald and Darcey Johnson have been together for six months. Matt shared, "We always change the story of how we met but we... we met on Bumble.” Their relationship - which started in the middle of a health pandemic - finally had to face that pandemic head on.
Darcey explains, "He messaged me saying I have a bit of a tickle in my throat, I'm not feeling that great but I'll probably be fine. And I was like, I'm feeling the same way but I just kind of chalked it up to the holidays. That day and the next two days he was just down for the count, he was just so, so sick. I was kind of lingering in this area of right before you get really sick."
Darcey took Matt to urgent care where doctors first tested for strep throat because of Matt's symptoms. Turns out it was COVID-19. The young couple was surprised. "It's funny, actually we were both sitting and sharing a chair together and I immediately shot up,” Darcey laughs. “As if I wasn't going to get it at that point."
So they isolated. Darcey says she didn't feel bad yet. But as matt started feeling better, she started feeling worse. "My body was achy. You have a little bit of a sore throat. Day after day, it just wasn't turning into what (Matt) had. Headache, back pain, neck pain. And it seems lame, but I have just been so depleted and so exhausted. If I'm 20 minutes into taking three Advil PMs. That's how I feel all day."
Matt says compared to Darcey his symptoms were worse. "Very painful to swallow, very painful to cough, difficult to talk and in addition to that there was just extreme fatigue and I had body aches as well. That turned into a severe sore throat. Very, very bad sore throat that turned into a cough."
Dr. Argentina Servin says she isn’t surprised to learn of the couple’s different experience. "We've seen that since the beginning of the pandemic. Because we are different, our immune responses will be different,” said Servin.
Servin also implores people to share their experiences and talk about there symptoms so that other patients with COVID-19 will know. Servin also says, sharing your experience or participating in a study like those offered at UCSD will help raise awareness.
Despite getting sick, Matt and Darcey feel like they're one of the lucky ones because they lived to talk about their experience. Darcey credits their vaccination and Matt’s timely booster shot to his speedy recovery.
If you’d like more information or would like to participate in a clinical study at UC San Diego, click here.
If you’d like more information or would like to participate in a clinical study conducted with funds from the National Institutes of Health, click here.
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