WASHINGTON – Akhink Omer, a Kurdish-American nurse living in Tennessee, was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 19. Now fully recovered, she urges young people to protect family members by respecting social distancing rules.



The United States has the highest infection rate in the world. New York State alone has more COVID-19 cases than any other country.



Omer caught the virus early on in the outbreak. Although she is just 31 years of age and has no underlying health issues, she suffered badly with COVID-19 symptoms.



On the front line of the pandemic response, and often with limited protective equipment, medical workers are especially vulnerable to infection.



“COVID-19 is miserable and I wish I could reiterate that a hundred times so people take it seriously,” Omer told Rudaw's Roj Zalla on Sunday.



“You have a fever 24 hours a day. Even while taking medication, the fever never comes down, never comes down to normal,” she said.



A high fever and difficulty breathing are common symptoms of COVID-19, which can cause respiratory diseases like pneumonia. It can also cause serious muscle pain.



“You have body aches, and when people ask what hurts the most, I always respond saying ‘everything, from head to toe hurts’,” Omer said.



However, the most frightening part of her illness was the difficulty she experienced while trying to breathe, which made her feel like she was choking.



“Definitely the worst part of COVID-19 is not being able to take a deep breath,” Omar said. “While I was a patient all I wanted to do is to take a deep breath.”



“The coughing is by far the worst symptom of COVID-19, because I would cough so much that I felt like I was choking, and that was the scariest part and most difficult,” she said.



Omer urged the public, particularly young people who have chosen to ignore public health advice, to avoid exposing the elderly and vulnerable to the virus.



“I want to tell the young people who do not care about the virus, I was also young and I ended up in the hospital for eight days,” Omer said.



“If you do not care about the virus and get infected with it, imagine you will expose your family to COVID-19, your mother, father, grandparents.”



The US had recorded more than 20,000 coronavirus deaths – more than any other country in the world, according to CNN.



More than 500,000 people have been infected across the US, while around 30,000 have recovered.

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