WEST TEXAS — The increase in COVID-19 cases in the tri-county has slowed some over the past weeks, adding one or two new cases a day, compared to the height of Brewster County’s spike when 45 of cases were added in one day.
“There’s still a trickle of positive COVID cases coming into our county, but I’m hoping this means the initial outbreak we saw has been controlled as much as possible, for the most part,” local doctor and county health authority Ekta Escovar told Brewster commissioners last Wednesday.
The numbers back that up: while Brewster has 165 cases today, 149 are classified as “recovered,” meaning only 16 cases are being actively monitored. “We still can’t let our guard down, but hopefully that trend continues and we can continue to monitor the cases that come in,” said Escovar.
The same is true in Presidio County. Today, of the 26 cases Judge Cinderela Guevara has reported, only three cases – all in the city of Presidio – are still within the quarantine dates assigned by the Department of State Health Services. The rest are “recovered.”
And while a decrease in numbers is a relief, actual recovery from COVID-19 can look very different depending on the patient. In Brewster County, Nicole Talley and Lari Quigg both went for testing on Tuesday, June 23 at the North Brewster County Emergency Response Center, a mobile testing site run by the Texas National Guard.
Talley, who owns and operates Handyman Plus in Alpine with her husband, found out six days after testing that she was positive. Her son fell ill too and became a presumed case. A bad headache, runny nose and sneezing set in, and “I was so incredibly tired,” said Talley. But she never had the high fever, cough or sore throat that are common symptoms of the disease.
The DSHS reports the most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough and shortness of breath, but other symptoms include muscle aches, fatigue, sore throat, chills, headache, runny nose, abdominal pain/discomfort, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Talley said her son had a high fever, was very lethargic and slept “a lot.”
According to the state health department, patients can stop self-isolating when they meet the following criteria: First, the patient must be fever-free for three days (72 hours) without the use of fever-reducing medications. Second, their symptoms must have significantly improved, and they no longer have a productive cough. And third, it has been at least 10 days since their symptoms first appeared.
Talley and her son are feeling better, and their symptoms are gone. While other symptoms were on and off for about 8 or 9 days, Talley said the longest lasting symptom was her tiredness, which persisted for 11 days.
In a message this week, Talley said she and her son are “getting back to ‘normal.’”
For Quigg, the retail director at the Alpine Humane Society’s thrift store, symptoms hit like a brick. Her symptoms set in the day before testing, and by the time she received word of her positive results, it had been a week and a half of COVID-19 symptoms. Her partner tested negative twice, but doctors advised it was likely she had the disease as well.
To be safe, Quigg quarantined for three weeks, instead of the recommended two.
Symptoms started with a cough, no fever, constant clearing of the throat, and “I had noticed in the preceding few days that I was completely exhausted all the time,” she explained. “I’m very high energy at work, I work nonstop and I just couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything – I was so exhausted.”
A few days in, “all the symptoms started hitting,” Quigg said, “The diarrhea, nausea, 24/7 migraine headache, I still have that; it does not go away.” Quigg is four weeks into the illness now. She’s cleared to return to work, but the symptoms persist: diarrhea, nausea, headache, exhaustion and “crazy dreams and nightmares and night sweats” which she says have her waking up drenched despite air conditioning and two fans running by her bed.
Quigg’s partner had difficulty breathing, a fever, and a much worse cough. The pair also experienced hallucinations – a symptom now being studied and reported as an issue for some patients in ICUs across the country – like seeing someone in the driveway who isn’t there or catching sight of nonexistent objects in their peripheral vision.
Her doctors advised her of the DSHS’s standards to be considered recovered. “They’ve also told me, ‘recovered in the medical community means you’re no longer contagious.’ It doesn’t mean that you have physically recovered.”
In a daily post about coronavirus cases, Brewster County provided a disclaimer about the “recovery” category, explaining it tracks individuals who are no longer considered contagious from COVID-19, but that “does not mean all of these individuals are fully symptom-free.”
The term “recovered” is used because it is consistent with the DSHS and CDC terminology. “We know there are many individuals in Brewster County still feeling ill effects from past their COVID-19 infections. These numbers do not, and should not, minimize the pain and discomfort they are feeling. COVID-19 can be a terrible, long-term process for many,” the disclaimer read.
Even after “recovery,” symptoms can linger for months and studies indicate the disease can have lasting health effects. Quigg gets upset when she sees people making light of the disease. “Just because they didn’t die or weren’t on a respirator, it is a very serious illness,” especially for those with underlying illnesses, like Quigg, who has immunodeficient diseases.
“I’ve had five TIA strokes in the past, and I’m worried about what’s going to happen in the future because of this,” said Quigg. “Just because I wasn’t on a ventilator, just because I didn’t die, doesn’t mean I’m not worried.”
While patients are told to quarantine for two weeks, there is no follow-up from DSHS to consult with patients about extending their quarantine if they do not meet the three criteria. Local doctors do work with patients to advise though.
“I have not been contacted by the state to let me know I was positive, or to be released from quarantine. However I am going by my local health authority’s recommendation,” said Quigg on Tuesday. “I will say that today is the first day that I don’t absolutely feel like hammered death. It’s the first day in a month that I don’t want to just curl up in a ball and be in bed all day.”
In the meantime, Quigg is grateful for the local community for helping them through the illness, starting a meal train and bringing groceries to stock their fridge. “That’s the amazing thing about Alpine, everybody always pulls together and has each other’s back.”
Her advice for the Big Bend community is to “absolutely be diligent. Wear your mask everywhere you go, everywhere. I know it’s a mandate now, but even after it lifts, continue to wear a mask.”
