Karla Monterroso, 39, of Los Angeles, leads an organization that advocates for the representation of Black and Latinx people in tech, but she has not been able to work full time
since March. She could not get tested until about a month after she first fell ill, and only recently tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.
Before this, I was a weight lifter, kayaker, hiker, white-water rafter. I can’t do anything right now, physically, without harming myself. It’s like someone cut your battery pack in half and doubled the charging time.I have to prep myself mentally for a shower.
The first few months, I didn’t believe myself. Is this in my head? When I got the antibody test a few weeks ago saying I had a positive antibody test, I sobbed for like an hour. I was like, it is written on paper that this is what happened to me. Before then, you’re sitting there constantly questioning your own body, and no one in the medical community believes you.
There has been no public health campaign about this. I have relatives that believe if you have hot water and lemon, this will cure Covid. I have relatives that believe that I am sick because I work too much.
I could have just as easily been exposed to this thing and not have had symptoms and be fine today. There is no control over this. It is all Russian roulette, and you can minimize your times up at bat, but you can’t zero them out. That is a very uncomfortable truth.
189 days SINCE SYMPTOMS BEGAN