Richard Quest, a presenter for CNN, US news-based pay television channel, says he is discovering new areas of “damage” to his body system, two months after recovering from COVID-19.
On April 20, Quest, better known for hosting Quest Means Business, tested positive for COVID-19 but recovered on May 5.
In an article published on Tuesday, Quest said indications of the coronavirus, including cough and fatigue, have returned.
The CNN presenter explained that the virus is like a “tornado” which causes damage as it “swirls through the body”.
“The cough has come back, without warning and seemingly for no reason; so has the fatigue. True, neither are as debilitating as when I had the actual virus, but they are back,” he said.
“Like many others, I am now coming to realize that I am living and suffering from the long tail of Covid-19.
“The virus is like a tornado. When it lands, it swirls through the body, causing chaos, confusion, coughs, wreaking damage to each organ it touches. Some won’t survive its visit. For those that do, when it has gone, one surveys the damage to the human landscape and realizes it’s much greater than first thought.”
Quest said he is now discovering new symptoms which have affected his body system, and identified them to include mild confusion and delay in his thought process.
The journalist warned those who are yet to test positive for the virus to adopt preventive measures against it.
“I am also discovering new areas of damage: I have now become incredibly clumsy. I was never the most lissome person, no one ever called me graceful, but my clumsiness is off the chart. If I reach for a glass, or take something out of a cupboard, I will knock it, or drop it on the floor,” he said.
“I have tripped over the curb and gone flying. I fall over furniture. It is as if that part of my brain, which subconsciously adjusts hand and movement to obstacles it sees, isn’t working.
“At times there’s a sense of mild confusion. The micro delay in a thought, the hesitation with a word. Nobody would notice but me.
“The cough has been with me for days, I have been tired and needed to take naps. I tripped over the camera tripod then fell over a chair! I am concerned but not panicked, yet.
“My digestive system is peculiar, to say the least. It doesn’t matter whether I call them symptoms, traits, or wreckage — my body doesn’t feel quite right.
“For those who have not had Covid, or witnessed the mess it leaves behind, again, I urge you, do whatever you can to avoid this tornado.
“It will roar through the body — kill some on the way — injure all in its path — and then when you think ‘well, thank God that’s gone,’ look around, the damage is strewn everywhere and will be with you long after the crisis has passed.”
