「パニックにならないで」　陽性判定も回復の米女性、新型コロナを語る

【シアトルＡＦＰ＝時事】パニックにならないで。でも、高リスクの人たちのことを考えて、体調が悪いと感じたら外出しないで──新型コロナウイルス感染症（COVID-19）陽性とされ回復した米国人女性は、不安な人たちに向けこのようなシンプルなメッセージを発している。（写真は新型コロナウイルス感染症〈COVID-19〉の陽性判定がでたものの回復した米ワシントン州シアトル在住のエリザベス・シュナイダーさん）
　エリザベス・シュナイダーさん（３７）が住む米ワシントン州の最大都市シアトルは、世界的に流行している新型コロナウイルスによる感染症で、米国で最も多くの死者が出ている。シュナイダーさんは「みんなが少しでも希望を持ってくれれば」との思いから、１１日のＡＦＰのインタビューで自らの体験を語ってくれた。
　とはいえ、「もちろん、のんきに構えていればいいという話ではない。高齢者、基礎疾患のある人はたくさんいるから」だ。
　つまり、もし体調が悪いなと感じたら、そういう高リスクの人たちに自分が近づかないよう、「細心の注意を払って外出を控えるべきだ」と説明する。
　インフルエンザのような症状が初めてシュナイダーさんに現れたのは２月２５日、あるパーティーへ出席した３日後だった。
　「朝起きたら、倦怠（けんたい）感があった。でも、その前の週はずっとものすごく忙しかったし、仕事に行かなくちゃと思って起きたときにいつも感じるだるさと変わらなかった」
　しかし昼前には頭痛が始まり、熱も出て、体のあちこちが痛くなった。バイオ技術企業のマーケティングマネジャーを務めているシュナイダーさんは、半休をとって家に帰ることにした。
　しばらく寝て起きてみると、大変な高熱になっていた。測ってみると、３９．４度もあった。「その頃にはもう震えが止まらなくなっていて、悪寒もし、手足がヒリヒリと痛んだ。それでちょっと不安になった」
　シュナイダーさんは薬局へ行ってインフルエンザの薬をもらった。熱は数日のうちに下がり始めた。新型コロナウイルスに感染したときによく見られるせきや息切れといった症状はなかったため、「大丈夫、これは新型コロナウイルスではない」と思ったのだ。

■「ちょっとクールかも」
　しかし２、３日してから、友人のフェイスブックの投稿で、同じパーティーの出席者の中に似た症状が出た人たちがいたことを知り、怪しく思い始めた。何人かはシュナイダーさんと同じようにせきも息切れもなかったため、新型コロナウイルスの検査を求められなかった。
　自分も新型コロナウイルスの検査は断られるだろうと思ったシュナイダーさんは、「シアトル・インフルエンザ研究」という名の研究プログラムに連絡。検査キットを送ってもらい、綿棒で鼻の粘膜を採取して送り返した。
　すると３月７日になってこの研究の担当者から電話があり、検査の結果、新型コロナウイルス感染症で陽性反応が出たと告げられた。
　母親にそれを言うと泣き出してしまった。シュナイダーさん自身は「ちょっとうれしい驚きだった。ちょっとクールかもと思っていたから」と笑いながら言った。「症状がもっと重かったらそんなふうには感じなかったのは確かだ」
　検査結果が出たころには、シュナイダーさんの症状はすでに治まっていた。しかし保健当局からは、最初に症状が出てから少なくとも７日間、または症状が治まってから７２時間は外出を控えて家にいるように言われた。
　シュナイダーさんは、典型的な大多数の例であろう自分の体験が、他の人の慰めになればと思ったと語った。
　「みんなにはパニックにならないでと伝えたい。ひょっとして感染したのかなと思ったら、多分検査を受けた方がいい」
　さらにシュナイダーさんは言う。「命に別条があるほどの症状でなければ家にいて、薬局で買える薬とたくさんの水を飲んで、よく休むこと。見たかったテレビ番組の一気見とかしていれば治る」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/03/16-08:42）

An American woman who has recovered from the novel coronavirus has a simple message for people who are worried: Don't panic -- but do think about high-risk individuals and stay home if you feel ill.
Elizabeth Schneider lives in Seattle, the biggest city of Washington state, which has the most deaths in the United States from the disease sweeping the globe.
The 37-year-old, who has a PhD in bioengineering, said she was sharing her story to give people a little bit of hope through her own relatively mild experience with the infection, which she treated herself from home.
But, she added, obviously, it's not something to be completely nonchalant about, because there are a lot of people who are elderly or have underlying health conditions.
That means that we need to be extra vigilant about staying home, isolating ourselves from others.
This week, US health authorities citing Chinese data said 80 percent of cases have been mild, while the remaining serious cases that required hospitalization affected mainly people over 60 and those with conditions like diabetes, heart disease or lung disease.
- The party -
Schneider first began experiencing flu-like symptoms on February 25, three days after going to a party that was later identified as the place where at least five other people also got infected.
I woke up and I was feeling tired, but it was nothing more than what you normally feel when you have to get up and go to work, and I had been very busy the previous weekend, she told AFP in an interview Wednesday.
By midday, however, she felt a headache coming on, along with a fever and body aches. She decided to leave the office of the biotechnology company where she works as a marketing manager, and went home.
After waking up from a nap, Schneider found she had a high temperature, which peaked at 103 degrees Fahrenheit that night (39.4 Celsius).
And at that point, I started to shiver uncontrollably, and I was getting the chills and getting tingling in my extremities, so that was a little concerning, she said.
She turned to over-the-counter flu medications to treat the symptoms and called a friend to be on standby in case she needed to be taken to an emergency room -- but the fever began to recede in the coming days.
Schneider had been following news reports about the novel coronavirus. The first US case was detected in Washington in late January.
The state has since gone on to become the epicenter of the disease in the country, with more than 260 cases and at least two dozen deaths. Nationwide, there have been more than 1,100 cases and 30 deaths.
Because she didn't have the most common symptoms like a cough or shortness of breath, I thought, okay, well that's definitely why I don't have coronavirus, said Schneider.
She had gotten a flu shot but assumed her illness was a different strain. A visit to the doctor would only result in her being asked to go home, rest and drink plenty of fluids.
- 'Pleasantly surprised' -
A few days later, however, she discovered through a friend's Facebook post that several people from the party had all developed similar symptoms, and she began to get more suspicious.
Several of these people went to their doctors, where they were found to be negative for the flu, but they were not offered coronavirus tests because they too were not coughing or having breathing trouble.
Knowing that she would also likely be turned down for the test, she decided to enroll in a research program called the Seattle Flu Study, hoping it might provide an answer. The team behind the study sent her a nasal swab kit, which she mailed back and waited several more days.
I finally got a phone call from one of the research coordinators on Saturday (March 7), telling me that 'You have tested positive for COVID-19,' she said.
I was a little bit pleasantly surprised, because I thought it was a little bit cool, Schneider admitted, laughing, though her mother cried when she told her.
Granted, I probably would not have felt that way if I was severely ill, she said. But from a scientific curiosity perspective, I thought it was very interesting. And also the fact that I finally got confirmation that that's what I had.
By this time, her symptoms had already subsided, and she was told by local health authorities to remain at home for at least seven days after the onset of symptoms or 72 hours after they subsided.
It's now been a week since she's felt better. She has started going out for errands but is still avoiding large gatherings and continuing to work from home.
Schneider said she hoped her example, which will probably be typical of the high majority of cases, could comfort others.
The message is don't panic, said Schneider. If you think that you have it, you probably do; you should probably get tested.
If your symptoms aren't life-threatening, simply stay at home, medicate with over-the-counter medicines, drink lots of water, get a lot of rest and check out the shows you want to binge-watch, she said.