On Wednesday, Gina Farmer finally found the strength to spend a few hours in her home office getting some work done after eight days battling COVID-19.
“It’s kind of like you spin the wheel and what symptom are you going to get today,” said Farmer.
Farmer first noticed something wasn’t right when she got a stomach ache on election day, but she chalked it up to anxiety and went to sleep.
Over the next few days, one symptom would simply morph into another.
A short-lived fever became the worst headache of her life.
What she first thought was a stomach bug then felt like a sinus infection.
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But when her son came downstairs Friday morning complaining of chills, she decided to get the whole family tested.
Farmer, her oldest and her husband all tested positive for COVID-19.
Though her youngest initially tested negative, his symptoms arrived the next day.
For her kids, the symptoms were relatively short lived.
Within 72 hours, they were logged on for virtual school.
Farmer and her husband weren’t so lucky.
“I’ve lost almost 10 pounds in six days,” said Farmer. “Just trying to whisk up some eggs the other day, I wasn’t able to do because the task was too hard. Just the amount of energy required to whisk some eggs was overwhelming.”
She said the family’s been careful
“I only surround myself with friends who have similar COVID strategies who I know are taking extra precautions,” said Farmer.
Still, she believes she caught the virus at a dinner out with four friends. The woman she sat next to didn’t know at the time that she was carrying the virus.
The other two later tested negative.
“Unfortunately, I was in a restaurant where it was us and three other tables, and I felt safe there. But I still contracted it, so it’s extremely contagious,” said Farmer.
As Dallas County hit a new record for the number of daily cases reported, health officials have warned we’re headed into the most dangerous phase of the crisis.
Though there are no new restrictions in place, they’ve urged people not to give into pandemic fatigue that encourages people to venture out more than they did at the start of the crisis and avoid the practices known to prevent the spread of the virus.
“This is real. Here I am. I work out six days a week. I use all the supplements I possibly can, front-loading my system. So I stay healthy on a daily basis, and I still got it. So we can’t let that fatigue set in. We’ve got to remain vigilant. We’ve got to go on protecting not only ourselves but protecting our neighbors,” said Farmer.
Dallas County reported 1,304 new positive COVID-19 cases Wednesday.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
