Sydney woman who thought Covid-19 was 'just the flu' sends powerful message to Australians after she passed it on to her vulnerable mother and cancer-survivor dad
A Covid-infected woman who gave the virus to her vulnerable parents has blasted the moronic minority of Australians who insist the pandemic is a hoax.
Jacinta, who lives in the virus-plagued Canterbury-Bankstown area in Sydney's south-west where there are more than 3,000 active cases, shared her harrowing experience with Daily Mail Australia.
The 25-year-old suffered through days of fevers, bloodshot eyes, a terrible cough and was brought to her knees from excruciating pain.
She also unknowingly passed on the virus to her father - a cancer survivor - and her mother, who has serious underlying health issues. They all live in the same home.
Jacinta issued a desperate plea to Australians to 'stop being selfish' by breaking Covid restrictions.
'You could be infecting people who then go home to vulnerable and sick family members with pre-existing health conditions,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'I personally have an auto-immune disease and I gave it to my dad who had cancer as well as my mother with multiple health conditions.
'If anything was to happen to my parents I would never forgive myself.'
Jacinta , 25, who lives in coronavirus-hit Canterbury-Bankstown, has shared her harrowing experience with coronavirus and the toll it took on her sick parents
The 25-year-old shared her story on Instagram and urged Australians to take the virus seriously to protect the vulnerable after she passed the virus on to her mother and father
Jacinta, who works as a receptionist, was feeling fine but a 'little flat', so she got tested to be safe.
NSW Health texted her on Thursday last week informing her she was positive with the virus, the same day she was due to be vaccinated.
'Just my luck that would happen,' she said.
Jacinta said the first three days of her infection were horrific and she locked herself inside her bedroom, only using her own bathroom so as not to infect her at-risk parents.
'The first day was the worst day. I had a fever, I woke up in a pool of my own sweat,' she said. 'My body was shaking, my head was so heavy I couldn't lift it.
'I didn't leave my room, I used my own bathroom. Mum would leave food at my door, they'd knock and I'd get it a few minutes later.'
Jacinta, who works as a receptionist, says she was informed by NSW Health she had tested positive on the same day she was supposed to be vaccinated
The number of Covid cases in hospital in NSW has risen to 917 with 150 fighting for life in intensive care and 66 breathing through a ventilator (pictured, an ICU patient at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney in July)
JACINTA'S PLEA TO AUSTRALIANS
I'm on day 6 of having Covid and I feel 80% normal now but let me tell you the first 3 days I had a fever of 39, eyes were bloodshot red, my head felt 300kgs I almost collapsed trying to change my bedsheets my cough was crazy I felt like a truck had run me over.
I'm lucky I bounced back quick but I'm seeing so many people I know personally or mutuals of my friends and they are in hospital on ventilators and I know someone in an induced coma fighting for his life.. HE IS 30.
Please don't think because I'm ok and smiling now that every other person with Covid is the same. It hits us all differently. My heart goes out to everyone who has it 100 times worse than me and my family.
If you have symptoms go get a bloody test. Get over yourself and stop being selfish because you don't want to be a part of their 'statistics'. You could be infecting people who then go home to vulnerable and sick family members with pre-existing health conditions. I personally have an auto-immune disease and I gave it to my dad who had cancer as well as my mother with multiple health conditions. If anything was to happen to my parents I would never forgive myself.
Her mother suffers from a series of conditions, and has been bedridden from the flu in the past, while her father is six years in remission from bowel cancer.
She said she's been concerned for their safety, with her mother experiencing the same symptoms but improving and her father relatively fine so far.
'After mum got it we were allowed to sit with each other. My dad was left alone for a whole day, my dad can't cook or clean,' Jacinta explained.
'When he tested positive he was happy in the sense we could live normal again. He knew it was bound to happen.'
She admitted believing coronavirus was nothing but a flu at the beginning of the pandemic, but her experience with it changed her mind and she's urged everyone to start taking it seriously.
'When Covid first came out, I just thought it was the flu. It does have a high survival rate but I was oblivious to how serious it actually is, because I didn't know anyone who had it,' she said.
'I can now tell you 30 people I personally know who have it. I know multiple people in hospital, I know a month-old baby who has it. I know someone in an induced coma fighting for his life. He is 30.
'Please don't think because I'm OK and smiling now that every other person with Covid is the same. It hits us all differently.
'My heart goes out to everyone who has it 100 times worse than me and my family.'
Jacinta said she was sick of seeing people in her community disregarding the virus, but does believe the government's treatment of western Sydney was disproportionate to that of the eastern suburbs.
'The police and army presence has been heavy, I've never seen so many cops,' she said.
'I am very irritated compared to how they're treating us compared to people in Bondi where this all started.
The 25-year-old admitted to underestimating the virus at the beginning of the pandemic but after her experience and knowing many people in hospital she knows the severity of it
'But I'm so over people being sick and sitting at home. Get off your a***, get a test and who cares if you have to isolate because you're potentially infecting people who could kill their family members.'
NSW is set to reach a major milestone of 70 per cent of single doses on Wednesday after 148,000 residents rolled up their sleeves for the jab a day earlier.
Gladys Berejiklian expects the target of 70 per cent of people double dosed to be met in mid-October, which is when long fought for freedoms will finally materialise.
'I want to remind everybody that September is the month when we're asking everybody to get ready,' Ms Berejiklian said.
'If you're a business start dusting off your Covid safety plan.
'Make sure your employees are vaccinated so we can get back to life at 70 per cent double-dose vaccination which we anticipate will happen somewhere around the middle of October.'
Ms Berejiklian said fully-vaccinated residents will be able to go out for a drink once 70 per cent of the state's eligible residents have received both doses (pictured, testing in Sydney's Burwood)
The state recorded 1,116 new local Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday, as well as four deaths taking the death toll for the NSW outbreak to 100.
The four women who died were in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, were not vaccinated and had underlying health conditions.
More than 400 cases were from Western Sydney Local Health District while 372 are from the South Western Sydney district.
More than 173,913 NSW residents came forward for testing on Tuesday.
The number of Covid cases in hospital in NSW has risen to 917 with 150 fighting for life in intensive care and 66 breathing through a ventilator.
COVID-19: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What is Covid-19?
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause respiratory infections. These can range from the common cold to more serious diseases.
Covid-19 is a disease caused by a form of coronavirus.
Other coronaviruses include Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms of Covid-19 can range from mild illness to pneumonia.
Some people will recover easily, and others may get very sick very quickly.
People with coronavirus may experience symptoms such as:
- fever
- coughing
- sore throat
- shortness of breath
Other symptoms can include runny nose, acute blocked nose , headache, muscle or joint pains, nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, loss of sense of smell, altered sense of taste, loss of appetite and fatigue.
To stop the spread of Covid-19 people with even mild symptoms of respiratory infection should get tested.
Source: Department of Health