Journalist Howie Severino confirmed yesterday he was a COVID-19 survivor. He has been discharged from the hospital and still recovering.
“I am one of the lucky ones who have been able to go home, resume a semblance of my former life, and live to tell the tale,” said in a personal essay published in GMA News Online.
“It’s a tale of long painful needles that couldn’t find a vein in my hands, the shwabs down my throat that made me gag, the torture of long sleep deprivation, and the team of doctors who formed a Viber group to discuss updates on my case and the experimental drug chloroquine that worked on patients elsewhere and eventually worked on me.”
Howie is still wondering how he caught the virus as he was observing safety protocols early on, such as practicing social distancing and frequent hand washing.
Also read: Celebrities who tested positive of coronavirus
Howie Severino is COVID-19 Patient 2828
“It’s a tale of long painful needles that couldn’t find a vein in my hands, the swabs down my throat that made me gag, the torture of long sleep deprivation, and the team of doctors who formed a Viber group to discuss updates on my case and the experimental drug chloroquine that worked on patients elsewhere and eventually worked on me,” he said.
The I-Witness reported shared a few takeaways on his experience as Patient 2828. He said transparency in your health condition is an obligation. “For the greater good, we are required to disclose our COVID-19 status to the Department of Health. Contact tracing can go a long way in preventing its further spread. This is more than a notification of work colleagues,” he said.
He also advised those who are reaching out to COVID-19 patients to give more than get well messages. “Share family news, your playlists, jokes and memes, anything that can offer a respite from the constant reminders of our condition. We do not need more pity,” he said.
He also shared one of his nurses somehow took an apprenticeship with him as he taught him how to make a documentary. “He happened to be a strapping young man in PPE who was interested in documentary. I taught him how to shoot and he began to document his life as a frontliner, which eventually became a documentation of his patient.”
In the end, Howie said the virus is not a death sentence. And the frontliners are the true heroes.