It’s hard to fathom the realities of coronavirus, especially as there is so much fake news flying around the internet. However, we have been given insights into the infection by doctors, nurses and Italian citizens via social media – all of which have proven to be extremely enlightening.

Now, a woman in the USA has revealed that she is recovering in quarantine after being diagnosed with Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Since returning home from hospital, though, Amy Brock has been watching conversations about the pandemic develop online.

Tired of all those saying they don’t think the virus can affect them, Brock – the second known victim in her county – decided to share a sobering message with “all the non-believers and those who are not taking this seriously.”

In a Facebook post which has been shared almost 30,000 times, Brock reveals that she became sick very quickly on the afternoon of Wednesday 11 March.

“I felt run down and feverish,” she writes. “By the time I got home I had a fever… I was uncomfortable, [had a] headache and a cough that was heavy but not producing anything.”

Brock took herself to bed, as so many of us do when feeling unwell, in a bid to sleep it off, but woke up at 3am with worsened symptoms.

“My heart was racing,” Brock recalls. “I had trouble catching my breath and my chest felt tight every time I coughed.

“I called the ER, told them my symptoms and they had me call a closed Ohio Department of Health number. I was clearly in distress, so my [friend who is a] nurse called them back and said I was coming in.”

Brock says it’s a good thing she went to hospital when she did, as the infection became even more aggressive.

“My BP (blood pressure) was very low and my heart rate was very high,” she says. “These are not good signs on top of fever and cough. [So the hospital] admitted me and I was tested for every single other thing and then they ran the Covid-19 test.”

Brock, despite claiming to have not been in contact with anyone who has coronavirus, tested positive.

“I am the face of this infection,” she writes. “It is brutal and I’m a healthy 48-year-old with no underlying conditions. I’m not 100% better, but I’m home resting.

“Please take this seriously. People you love, their lives may depend on it.”

As previously reported, the NHS has teamed up with Google, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to tackle the spread of coronavirus misinformation. However, it’s up to you to interrogate what you’re reading and ensure that you are not taking baseless claims at face value.

In the meantime, here are the dangerous coronavirus myths you should absolutely not be sharing and, on the flipside, 22 posts you should be retweeting in the fight against the Covid-19 infodemic. 

And please feel free to read and share our article on the realities of life in lockdown (as revealed by a British woman living in Italy), too.

Remember: if you think you might have coronavirus, do not visit your local GP or hospital department. Instead, use the NHS 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do.

Image: David Mao/Unsplash