Shared this from Residents of Maharashtra

This is a forward sent by a friend - but as it is a first person incident report - sharing it here

My brothers story

I tested positive for COVID-2019 and below is my journey through recovery!

Background:
I am a MBA student from India who was studying in Spain when the COVID-19 pandemic hit us. Being in a university atmosphere, I possibly got exposed to the virus while I was there.

In hindsight, I experienced fatigue and lack of energy, gradual increase in body temperature and shivering followed by a severe nasal congestion and loss of taste and smell. However, most of these symptoms subsided over the course of few days and I believed it was seasonal as I was feeling back to normal within a week.

Around 16th of March, I was informed that India has decided to close borders and restrict all access to passengers from Europe starting March 18th. Given the circumstances developing in Spain, I and my family decided it is best for me to return back to my homeland, so on March 17th I took one of the last few flights from Spain and returned back to India.
I traveled from Spain to India without any major symptoms. I was stamped with voter-ink of home-quarantine and date which was 14 days post my arrival. At home, I quarantined myself in a separate room for the safety of my family members. We followed strict home quarantine guidelines; everything was being sanitized plus 100% isolation was observed.

Two days after my travel I found out that a few of my friends I had met had tested positive in Spain, so I decided to get myself tested in Mumbai as well.

My Experience:
With apprehension I went to Kasturba Hospital which was the only authorized hospital at the time. My first impression of the hospital was that although it was not shining as many of the private hospitals, it was clean and organized. The process to determine whether I needed testing or not was very streamlined. My entire history was noted and it was decided that I should be tested on 3 grounds – international travel, contact with positive person, and indication of past symptoms.

I was admitted in a ward in a building separated only for COVID-19 patients. My throat swabs were taken and had to wait 24 hours for the results to come back.
The next morning my name was announced as my results had come, I was consulted privately of the positive result and that they will shift me to another ward.

At this point I was worried about what to expect next - where am I going to be taken, who all are going to be around me, how will I be treated in a public hospital, when will I see my family?

I was shifted to another ward nearby with only positive tested patients. I was apprehensive & panic stricken being in a public hospital with all positive patients around me, nurses and ward boys covered in hazmat suits and other PPE gear, no contact with anyone. I waited to speak to the doctor about the possibility of shifting to a private hospital.
After an hour, the doctor came to do his rounds and he checked me, took my history and details of symptoms and reassured me that I was doing well, though I was almost asymptomatic my body was still fighting and was still a carrier.

I explored the possibility of being transferred to a private hospital. This continued for two days, till I realized there is not much I can do as most private hospitals were only taking extremely complicated cases and no other hospital except Kasturba was at that time well equipped and versed with the procedures to follow in such instances.

By day 3, things became routine and my normal day involved getting up by 6:00am for getting the vitals tested and would repeat 3 times a day. The doctor would do two rounds First one at 10:00am and in the evening between 5:00 – 7:00pm to monitor symptoms and also check on the mental health which I was pleasantly surprised about.

I was being re-tested for COVID-19 every alternate day and my first three re-tests had come positive, so I realized I was not going anywhere anytime soon.

On day 5, my congestion resurfaced, I started feeling fatigue again and my blood pressure dipped. The nurses and the entire staff took care to provide timely medications and I stabilized again in a couple of days.

While the patients were allowed to get food from outside, Kasturba Hospital had collaborated with restaurants and Taj Hotels had contributed lunch and dinner which came in proper packed containers as well as giving an option to select food cooked at the hospital.

Kasturba being a community public hospital, however all the physicians and the entire staff were doing an exceptional job to the best of their abilities and means provided by the government to maintain the hygiene standards, continuous monitoring of all patients, bed sheets changed every day, ward cleaned 2-3 times a day, beds washed after every patient leaves. The doctors and nurses were well aware of the rapidly evolving situation and the ongoing developments in COVID-19 testing protocols and treatment globally.
My 4th re-test was taken and immediately the following day, the fifth swab test was done and both results came back negative. I was discharged from the hospital on 11th day with instructions on two additional weeks of quarantine which I am currently following. I am extremely humbled by the experience at Kasturba and thank all the staff for taking good care of me and others.

Parallel Story:
Soon after I tested positive, The BMC went to my house where I was staying with my family of 6 and staff of 3 people. BMC disinfected our entire house, common areas including but not limited to elevators and the building lobby to ensure infection control. My family, staff and anyone I may have had direct or indirect contact were also tested for Corona virus as per protocol.
Thankfully all of them tested negative with instructions to self-quarantine for 14 days and also appreciated the quarantine guidelines we followed at home.
The government officials also took information about my flight details including my seat number and reached out to all the people sitting around me on the airplane to ensure they were not infected (luckily, I didn’t have anyone); this is a great example of contact tracing being done.

I am currently still in quarantine and isolating myself to a room at home. The BMC doctors and Central Govt. health Dept call every few days to check on my health. My experience has been nothing short of excellent and I salute all healthcare and government officials working in the frontline to combat this pandemic. PM Narendra Modi, Dr Harshvardhan (Minister of Health and family welfare), CM Uddhav Thackeray, and the COVID-19 task-force of the BMC are doing an exceptional job of ensuring the needy get the care and medical support at no cost. I urge you all to follow the guidelines laid out by our government, exercise self-discipline, stay home and avoid doing anything that could compromise safety of public at large and not putting burden on our healthcare system.
One more lesson - do not shy away to get yourself tested you just don't know how and when you can contract it.
I have seen and experienced what this Pandemic can do and India is in the forefront in terms of treatment as well as taking well timed steps to restrict and combat it!
Stay in Stay Safe!
Jai Hind!

#indiafightscorona #PMOIndia #CMOMaharastra #bmcmumbai #kasturbahospital
This is encouraging & After review it is possible to open the partial lockdown if everyone will contributing his 100%. more