To say I had a crazy one month would be an understatement. Beginning of June, both parents and I tested positive for COVID-19 and it’s been a difficult few weeks. Where or how we contracted the virus isn’t clear, but we aren’t surprised given WHO’s projections. (1/n)

I don’t think anyone should be surprised at this point considering how deep into community transmission we are. Luckily we had only mild symptoms. Among the 3 of us we experienced sore throat, cold, headache, persistent fever, (2/n)

body pain, terrible exhaustion and complete loss of taste & smell. We are so fortunate to have made recovery without hospitalisation and without grandparents getting sick despite us.
I’m on Day 20 and my lingering symptoms are a severe headache that comes and goes (3/n)

& I’ve finally gone from tasting absolutely nothing my 1st week to maybe around 20% my original senses.
Throughout this ordeal, the one thing that remained constant was the support I received from friends & family. The first 2 weeks were truly very hard. (4/n)

I didn’t know where to start, what to do, whom to contact, how to keep grandparents safe..I hadn’t heard of anyone who went through this & I had no idea what to expect. When you are feeling scared, there’s a lot comfort in knowing you are loved & there’s support (5/n)

when you need it. I’m SO thankful to my friends & family who helped by sending food, meds, groceries, and just generally checking up on me, making sure I was doing okay & also sending memes and music videos to keep me distracted. I truly appreciate what you guys have done (6/n)

I hope you don’t catch the virus because even with mild symptoms it’s SUCKS SO BAD; but if at all you do, it’s likely you are going to panic. I’m not here to tell you to not do that. Go through it, it’s okay, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed & scared (7/n)

but also know this will pass and you’ll get better. The good news is that a lot of us will recover at home with mild, manageable symptoms. Isolate yourself, wear mask & gloves if you are living with family, and figure out logistics for food, meds etc. (8/n)

We had sort of a tricky situation at home - my parents fell ill first and while I was caring for them, I likely contracted the virus. There was a point when the 3 of us were confined in different rooms and grandparents were out in the hall, kitchen (9/n)

but we had no way to make food for 5 people. Luckily I had friends who very kindly cooked and delivered food for us. So always have backup plans for everything you intend to do. (10/n)

How can you be prepared?

1. Have Paracetamol handy. You will likely start with a fever or cold that feels like flu/common cold.

2. Get a Pulse Oximeter to measure oxygen level in your blood. This helps in early detection of severe cases & is especially useful if you have (11/n)

people over 60 in the family or asymptotic patients who may develop lung issues without knowing it.

3. TAKE.YOUR.VITAMINS! You don’t need to wait till you have covid to start this. I’ve been taking multiple supplements for over a year now which included Vit C, D & Zinc (12/n)

and luckily these are the ones currently being prescribed so I had them with me.

4. Buy a few use & throw plastic gloves off Amazon. These are easy to use around the house. (13/n)

5. Make sure you have atleast a couple of cotton face masks that you can wash and reuse. Separate ones for each family member.

6. The single most useful thing during this time has been a Face Steamer. (14/n)

The traditional way of using pots or pans of boiling water is not going to work very well cause you have to worry about sanitising it afterwards. I would strongly suggest to buy a steamer if you can afford one; it’s SUPER useful. (15/n)

7. Get a couple of oral thermometers to check temperature regularly.

8. Stock up on tea, soup, bread, fruits, & other food you may need, especially if your city is under lockdown. With our apartment sealed and not many delivery executives comfortable dropping off stuff (16/n)

for us, we found it quite hard to get our essentials.

I feel like I have to mention here that your immunity largely depends on your lifestyle. The kind of food you eat, how well you sleep, what you do to keep yourself active etc. (17/n)

There’s no magic pill or powder that’s going to boost your immunity overnight and guarantee you won’t catch the virus. Don’t fall for that. Including vitamins in your diet is a complementary strategy & is vital because it helps to strengthen your immune system (18/n)

to fight off the infection. It’s not a cure for the virus itself.

Ending this by saying that I haven’t stepped out since March and I still got the virus, which only goes to show how careful one must be about what you are bringing home. (19/n)

Most of us will get through this just fine, but you never know who you are affecting and how or when it can quickly take a turn for the worse. This is no joke, so please be responsible. (20/n)

Stay indoors as much as possible and if you absolutely must go out, make sure you have your mask, gloves and are taking all necessary precautions.

(21/21)