Fit and healthy Melbourne nurse shares unexpected COVID-19 symptom
A young and health nurse who works in the emergency department at the Royal Melbourne Hospital has revealed that she suffered from an unusual symptom before testing positive for coronavirus.
Emily Morris, 32, told ABC's 7:30 Report that she felt a strange pain in her lower legs a week and a half ago.
She knew it was different from anything she ever experienced as she was used to being on her feet for hours on end.
"I was at work when I developed some aching to my lower legs and I spoke to my manager and she got me tested straight away," she said.
She said she self-isolated herself until she got her results 24 hours, which confirmed she had coronavirus.
Other common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, dry cough and tiredness.
"I was absolutely devastated. I think that as a health care worker, there is a little bit of shame and stigma around being diagnosed as COVID positive," she said.
"I'm young, I'm fit, I'm healthy. I was doing the right things and I got coronavirus."
She is now isolating in a government apartment so she doesn't risk exposing her housemates to coronavirus.
"I feel terrible. I haven't felt like eating and have difficulty keeping down fluids," she said.
Morris suspects she contracted the virus within the community.
"I work in the respiratory emergency department, which means that I wear an N95 mask. Then on top of that, I wear a face shield, hair coverings as well as a full length gown," she said.
"Considering the high quality of the PPE that we have and the procedures that we have in place, I am very certain that this was a community acquired transmission."
Morris is sharing her story and is urging others to follow social distancing measures as well as wearing a mask.
"The discomfort that you think you feel wearing [a mask] does not compare to the discomfort that you will experience if you test COVID-positive," Ms Morris warned in a video posted on social media.
"[To] become short of breath that even walking from the couch to the toilet is a mammoth effort.
"Wear a mask, wash your hands, engage in social distancing. There is nothing more inconvenient and uncomfortable than catching corona.
"I can tell you. I know from experience."