A 51-year-old teacher in Melbourne, Australia, detailed his inability to take even a single breath and believing he was going to die last week in an intensive care unit after becoming infected with the so-called Delta variant.
The Bacchus Marsh Grammar school teacher warned others about protecting themselves from the newest strain of coronavirus in the Sydney and Melbourne areas after he was released from the ICU Monday.
The man, who identified himself to ABC Radio Melbourne as "Richard," said he caught the COVID-19 variant after attending an Australian Football League match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a friend who had recently been exposed to the virus.
Richard said he would try to "stand up at the edge of the bed for a minute...and I would be breathless for two or three minutes. And that is with oxygen flow."
The middle-aged teacher said he was floored by the virus despite being the "fittest and strongest" member of his family.
"You do everything right, I wore masks, I QR coded, I was cautious ... and yet this can happen to you," he said, reiterating that he truly believed he was going to die on the seventh day of his illness.
Richard told the Australian news outlet he lost about 33 pounds of primarily muscle mass and struggled to breathe before calling an ambulance the previous week. He claimed to regularly work out and said he has been overwhelmingly healthy throughout adulthood — until he was blindsided by COVID-19 late last month.
"You feel very mortal when this happens to you. It's tough mentally, because I was really fit and healthy before I came in," Richard said. "It was a real turning point. It was one of the most profound moments that have ever happened to me."
Richard said he received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine back in May and was set to get the second dose this week before he caught the virus. He advised all family and friends should check in on their loved ones in order to ensure they've either received a vaccination shot or are actively pursuing one, particularly as dozens of COVID-19 cases sprang up in that region of Australia this month.
"Can I say, get vaccinated, just get vaccinated," he urged. "It's safe, it works, it will give you peace of mind. Convince your relatives, convince your friends."
Newsweek reached out to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for any additional context or guidelines pertaining to the Delta variant of coronavirus.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Benjamin Fearnow is a reporter based out of Newsweek's New York City offices. He was previously at CBS and Mediaite ... Read more
