HERNANDO, Miss. — DeSoto County’s first coronavirus patient has detailed her experiences on Facebook, telling all about the moment she knew she was really sick.
WREG is not revealing her name, but she is an employee at Hernando’s police department.
“As soon as I walked in the door at home, I threw up. I was throwing up blood. Each time I threw up it was more and more … ,” she wrote.
She went to a local minor medical clinic the first day she felt bad and got tested for the flu. The first test came back negative, so they did a second, the next day.
She posted “My chest was really dense and I had cramp like feelings in my chest.”
The patient went back to work for a week at the Hernando Police Department, not feeling good but “fine enough to skate by.”
Sunday when she got off, she went to the ER because she felt like she was “dying.” That’s when she was finally tested for COVID-19. A lab test revealed why she was so sick.
Police Chief Scott Worsham says he learned the patient was his employee right about the time she posted about the results.
“I think we have a total of 6 in all in the entire department that aren’t here because of exposure or age,” he said. “We don’t any other officers, civilians, staff that has tested positive.”
Worsham says the department was already sanitizing and cleaning more than usual but decided to go a step further.
“I have a commercial cleaning company doing a commercial fog, sanitizing the entire building just to ease the concerns first and foremost of my employees,” he said.
The city of Hernando took additional steps, shutting down most departments to the public, allowing only employees in certain buildings.
The patient said me she feels better but needs rest, and only posted to inform and educate people about the seriousness of a coronavirus diagnosis.