My COVID experience has been pretty easy with Test-to-Treat

[mbbinbrooklyn]

Hi everyone: I am writing to share how grateful I am that my first "official" COVID infection has been mild and easy to treat. I am watch-and-wait and developed a full antibody response with my third vaccination. I also finally got Evusheld last month which I am very grateful for.

I am by nature a worrier and have spent the last 2 1/2 years being super cautious. I very likely had COVID in April 2020 and was sick for six weeks of cycling through fevers and fatigue and more frightening symptoms earlier in the illness including shortness of breath. As tests were not available and New York City was in a state of lockdown and chaos, I felt incredibly isolated and vulnerable. Throughout the pandemic, I've been very cautious and avoiding infection: I always wear a KN95 mask indoors and avoid public transit and do not eat in restaurants, etc.

However, despite wearing my mask, I somehow was infected with COVID, very likely at work where masking is not required, on the same day I received my bivalent booster. My oncologist was very helpful in telling me that if I got COVID, I should just take Paxlovid (yes, I know that with the emerging Omicron variants, Paxlovid is best treatment). The Paxlovid started mitigating my symptoms within about two hours.

My tip to everyone in the United States is look for test-to-treat locations aspr.hhs.gov/TestToTreat/Pa... whether at a pharmacy or elsewhere. The folks at my city-run testing van were very professional and it so helpful to get Paxlovid on my second day of symptoms before they got more severe. As speed is of the essence in treating COVID, I am so glad I didn't have to go through any hassles, especially when I was feeling lousy.

[Hidden]

Glad you are feeling better!

[mbbinbrooklyn in reply to Hidden]

thanks!

[morepork]

Accessing Paxlovid - glad to hear you have recovered, and agree as you said, that 'speed is of the essence' once testing COVID positive. Here in NZ I wanted to be sure what to do, so after consultation my GP has written out a ''back pocket'' Paxlovid prescription lodged with my local pharmacy, so should I need Paxlovid there won't be any "messing around" trying to sort out what to do next. 😊

[mbbinbrooklyn in reply to morepork]

Interesting. I doubt any doctor in the US would do that.

[DS37]

My experience with Paxlovid was similar. I started it the same day I tested positive, felt better pretty quickly and tested negative in 2 days.

[mbbinbrooklyn in reply to DS37]

that's great.

[Ibru]

Thanks for sharing the link.

[mbbinbrooklyn in reply to Ibru]

I'm glad it is helpful.