Colorado Nurse Who Contracted Coronavirus Describes How Symptoms Progressed From Sniffles To Aches

A Colorado nurse who contracted coronavirus said her illness has been nothing like she expected.

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Lisa Merck, 50, from Crested Butte, said it was after returning from a two-week trip to Hawaii with her husband that she began feeling sick.

She said it started with sniffles, before advancing to left-side body aches, shortness of breath and fatigue.

On March 8, after more than two weeks , Merck was diagnosed with the disease, reported KDVR.

'It's nothing like I expected,' she said.

Merck and her husband visited Maui, Oahu and the Big Island between February 3 and February 18.

It wasn't until she was on her way home that she started feeling ill.

'We went to a medical conference over there and on the day we were going to leave, I had little sniffles. That's it,' Merck told KDVR.

On the plane ride home, the advanced practice nurse then began to experience aches on the left side of her body.

'We got back and my muscles ached, my bones ached and my joints ached really bad,' she said.

'It felt like someone was stabbing me with an ice pick and I was like: "I wonder if I have the flu."'

Over the next few weeks, Merck experienced shortness of breath, fatigue and a fever.

'The next thing was extreme exhaustion,' she told Hawaii News Now.

'When I showered I was really felt out of breath and really tired.'

After a flu test came back negative, and her symptoms progressed, Merck told her husband to take her to their local emergency room.

She was tested for the virus on March 8 and the results came back positive on March 11, forcing her into quarantine.

According to KITV4, no health officials in Hawaii have contacted her after she revealed the news of her diagnosis.

'I have not been contacted by the Hawaii health department, I am more than happy, 100 percent, to talk to them at any time,' Merck said.

At a press conference on Sunday, Dr Sarah Park, Hawaii's state epidemiologist, said Merck hadn't been contacted because health officials don't believe she became infected while in Hawaii.

Merck said she's 'definitely getting healthier' and will be in quarantine until at least March 22 or whenever she's asymptomatic.

She insists she will not re-enter public life until she's confirmed negative on two coronavirus tests taken at least 24 hours apart.

Worldwide, more than 169,000 people have been infected and more than 6,500 people have died.

In the US, more than 3,800 people have been sickened and 69 deaths have been reported.

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