A coronavirus patient has described coughing up blood and struggling to breath in a warning to young people.
Tarek Soliman’s body began to feel weak and he started having chills on March 8.
What he thought was a normal cold became a lot worse as he rode on a bus from Washington DC to New York City, he wrote on his Instagram page.
After five days of staying at home and measuring his temperature, the costume designer went to receive some medical care and checks.
He fainted during the assessment and was rushed to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
“From the moment I got there I was kept in an isolated room by myself, they definitely didn’t know what to do,” Tarek wrote.
“They ran some tests on me every four hours, with no information or telling me what I have or what’s wrong with me, I was shaking and felt like I was dying with only IVs in my arm.
“After they took some blood and swabbed my nose for a covid-19 test I waited again until 4am in the morning.
“I got discharged and sent home after 12 hours in the ER and instructed to only take Tylenol.”
Tarek, who has designed costumes for Ru Paul’s Drag Race, was critical of the level of care he received.
“The hospitals and USA is completely unprepared for this,” he said.
“I don’t recommend relying on hospitals or the healthcare system.
“After four days I got my test result back that I am positive. I still have the same symptoms with no progress, but I started developing pneumonia and can’t breathe normally because there is no cure.
“It was followed by coughing blood. Now I have no fever but I still can’t breath normally, apparently the virus has spread into my lungs.”
Tarek has not been given the all clear yet, but he wanted people to stay as safe as possible.
He continued: “This isn’t something small we are dealing with, be responsible and stay home.
“I don’t want anyone to go through what I am going through now. Stay safe.”
In the US 32,356 people had tested positive for the coronavirus at the last count.
More than 400 people have now died and 178 are classified as having recovered.
Close to half of the cases have been reported in New York State, where 114 people have died from Covid-19, the New York Times reported.