CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte woman has become one of the most recent COVID-19 cases after a trip to Ireland and is now warning others to take the virus and precautions seriously.
It all started with a bucket list trip to Ireland on March 10 which was supposed to last until the 23rd. Carol Hall said she and her husband were part of a group tour of about 22 people. Hall said she and her husband decide to come back to Charlotte on March 16 after the travel ban to the UK and Ireland was announced.
“Heathrow was a mess, it was so packed full of people,” Hall said. When they got back to Charlotte, Hall said there weren’t any precautions in place.
“Went through no screenings,” Hall said, “by the time we got off the plane and were out the door, it was 15 minutes,” Hall said.
They were told they should self-quarantine, and she said luckily she did.
The next night, Hall said she started feeling symptoms.
“Just started to feel just kind of run down and ache-y,” Hall said. She said by Wednesday those aches became unbearable.
“I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck,” Hall said, “it hurt to touch anything, it hurt to sleep, it hurt to sit, it hurt to lay down.” Thursday was when she finally had a fever and decided to get tested, but her symptoms hadn’t even fully revealed themselves.
Over the weekend, she said she felt too sore to move and she began having gastrointestinal issues. “Monday, started realizing I couldn’t smell or taste anything,” she said.
“I take Vicks and I put it under my nose, I can feel the vapors but I can’t smell it.” The following Wednesday was when she was confirmed to be
positive, but it was a different story for her husband.
“He tested negative, but we have been sleeping in the same bed not taking really any precautions," Hall said.
She didn’t take precautions at home because they both assumed if one had it, they both likely did. Not only was her husband negative, he never had the same symptoms as she did. The sickness came as a surprise, Hall said, because she said while on the trip she took every precaution she could.
She detailed how she constantly washed her hands, used lots of hand sanitizer, wiped down menus and bus seats and anything she touched, but still ended up contracting the virus. Though her husband did not contract the virus,
Hall said if she hadn’t self-quarantined there’s no telling who she could’ve spread it to. “I just want people to understand how important it is to
follow what they’re telling us to do.”
She said she and her husband are both over 55-years-old, had traveled with a group of friends, and she's the only one who contracted the virus and had those symptoms. She believes this also highlights how selective
this virus can be.