7X Vaccinated Doctor Who Wore a Mask All the Time Suffers Meltdown after Catching COVID

I finally got infected and tested positive last Tue. It's been a rough wk. Not sure where I picked it up- it was following a flight so may have been during the flight or at the airport (didn't remove FFP3 at any point, except for ID) – or perhaps outdoors swimming. I don't know.

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

It started with a sore throat, fever, severe myalgia, fatigue, and worsening POTS symptoms (I have these at baseline due to my ulcerative colitis, but they are significantly worse since infection). Still feeling out of it after 5 days of Pax.

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

The ignorance around us is shocking. I just spoke to a GP who told me that 'recent research shows that while masks were important, hand hygiene was by far more important', and that 'Paxlovid rebound was just spreading the virus in small doses rather than one big dose'…

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

Paxlovid rebound is not about 'spreading the virus in small doses' – paxlovid to many of us who are clinically vulnerable is not just about reducing severe disease risk but also improving the probability of virus clearance & reducing long COVID & viral persistence risk.

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

Ultimately, while one-way masking can be highly protective, individual measures simply aren't enough to protect everyone. For me, with my baseline risk profile (ulcerative colitis, immunosuppression), the risk of long COVID was always going to be high when I got infected

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

I was 4 months out of my booster (6th dose) when I got it. I was wearing an FFP3 consistently in indoor spaces, and most of the time even in outdoor spaces. So the only places I think I could've caught it is despite the FFP3 during travel, or outdoors when I wasn't masking.

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

It's early days, so I'm really hoping the POTS improves over the next few days. I've been struggling with some degree of POTS for months, and it's definitely worsened with the hotter weather here, and now again since the infection. Hoping it improves following the acute phase 🤞

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

Which is why I really dislike the 'it's just like a mild flu' comparisons, because even flu isn't 'mild' for many of us with chronic illness, and can set us back by weeks or sometimes even months. The impact on quality of life is far from trivial.

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

I'm vaccinated, have had Pax for 5 days – so I guess I'm in the best place I can be. But it doesn't feel 'mild' by any stretch of the imagination.

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 26, 2023

To the a**holes, who're using my getting COVID as some sort of victory to suggest that precautions don't work. If that's what you have to take away from it all, there's really no point appealing to you on rational grounds. You do you. I'll enjoy living rent free in your heads!

— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) February 27, 2023