Chelsea Giachelli was supposed to be on the front lines fighting COVID-19.
Instead, the 26-year-old Indianola native ended up fighting the virus in quarantine.
The coronavirus survivor and employee at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson talked to The E-T this week about her experience after testing positive for the disease and her eventual recovery.
As a medical worker, she remains at the forefront of the daily fight against the virus.
“I honestly don’t know how I got it, but I really think it came from being at work,” said Giachelli.
She experienced flu-like symptoms and lost her sense of taste and smell. Giachelli was advised to get tested after experiencing symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus.
“The symptoms run the spectrum, which is part of what makes this so hard to diagnose and manage,” said South Sunflower County Hospital physician Dr. Hannah Ray. “The majority of patients we have seen have had fever and body aches and ‘just feeling bad.’ But some have a sore throat and ear pain, some have a cough, and some come in already short of breath with severe symptoms. And presentation type is not specific to age groups, which further complicates the issue.”
Giachelli describes her experience of getting tested as “painful.”
During the procedure she was swabbed in both nostrils.
She visited a hospital in Jackson and received her results of a positive testing within two days. Giachelli went into self-isolation for 14 days after her testing.
She is a mother, so the isolation presented a different challenge.
“It was hard because my mom and the (baby’s other grandmother) came and took the baby, because they didn’t want her to be around because I had the virus,” said Giachelli. “I couldn’t leave the house. I hated it.”
The process of self-isolation is not easy for many.
According to SSCH’s Ray, that seclusion is necessary to stop the spread of the virus.
Patients are expected to self-isolate for 14 days beginning the date of the positive test.
This period can be extended by a seven-day time period - if the patient is still showing symptoms - until the patient reaches 72 hours of showing no symptoms without medications.
“The process is supposed to be isolation, symptom monitoring and treatment and then precautions when going back into the community, so to ensure they are asymptomatic prior to returning to normal life,” said Ray. “However, the reality is that our population is not following quarantine protocol, and we often call to do check-ins and hear the grocery store in the background, so people need to understand that there are positive cases in the community not adhering to quarantines, which is why the practice of hand hygiene and cough etiquette and six feet of distance between people is so important.”
During Giachelli’s self-isolation, she found that it was best to keep her mind off the virus.
“Just keep yourself busy around the house, because if you don’t, you’ll just be sitting around thinking,” said Giachelli. “I was really scared to be honest because they said one day you could be fine and the next day it could turn.”
During this time, she also found it best to refrain from watching the news.
With her second testing, the results came back in eight days. She was quarantined for three weeks total.
The pandemic also affected Giachelli’s work routine, as clinical trials have been suspended due to the spread of the coronavirus.
“Now we have to wear masks around the hospital, and it’s scary, because you can get re-infected, because I had it and I’m scared, because I could eventually get it again from being around the hospital,” said Giachelli. “You never know who you are coming in contact with at work.”
For Giachelli, life has gone back to as normal as possible. During the time of her interview, Giachelli had regained her sense of smell but partially regained her sense of taste. However, she doesn’t worry about the stigma associated with the virus.
“It’s a virus, anybody can get it” said Giachelli.
