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A 23-year-old doctor who had to be admitted to the ICU after contracting Covid-19 has urged young people who believe they are immune to the virus to “think twice” and follow public health recommendations.
Kerry’s Dr. Owen O’Flynn says he is still feeling the effects of the infection, months after he was hospitalized last April.
He says that while older people are at higher risk for the disease, it can still have devastating effects on people of any age. “There is no real way to know who will deteriorate and who will get over it without severe symptoms.”
“I am a 23-year-old young man, who maintained a high level of physical condition and ended up in the ICU due to Covid-19,” he said at the briefing on Monday by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).
In late March, Dr. O’Flynn said that he began experiencing loss of sense of smell and taste, but no other symptoms. Based on the criteria at the time, he did not qualify for a test and recovered after a week.
However, on April 26 he began to feel ill after a day of work in the ICU, with symptoms such as stomach pain, temperature spikes, sweating, vomiting and diarrhea. It tested negative “as it was not actively spreading the virus at the time.”
Admitted to the hospital for suspected gastroenteritis, he tested negative for the second time.
After his heart tracing showed signs of damage and his oxygen levels dropped, he was cleaned again. “The results showed that he had had a Covid-19 infection four to six weeks earlier.”
Doctors informed him of a newly diagnosed inflammatory condition related to Kawasaki syndrome, he said.
“Later that night, I quickly deteriorated. My oxygen levels dropped and in the space of a minute I couldn’t finish a sentence. “
He was admitted to the ICU and experienced acute cardiac and respiratory failure. “At that point I started to wonder if I would ever get out of the ICU, would I die there?”
“Fortunately, everything began to resolve slowly. I was discharged from the intensive care ward and a week later I was discharged home.
Dr. O’Flynn said it took him six weeks to “regain a sense of normalcy” and even today he has reduced his fitness levels.
Nphet reported 825 new cases Monday night and one more coronavirus-related death.
Approximately 78% of the new cases were under 45 years old, and the mean age was 30 years.
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