After Josh Berg, a 37-year-old Long Island resident, spent a few days experiencing typical coronavirus symptoms like a high fever, slight chest pains, and terrible aches, he thought he was rounding the corner, only to be hit by what he called a second wave with new symptoms — headaches and stomach pains. 

Typical symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, include a cough, fever, and fatigue. Some patients experience those symptoms but feel relatively fine for a week, only to take a serious turn for the worse one to two weeks into the illness. 

“It was a good 13, 14 days of this, which is just extremely tough for the entire family,” he told Cheddar on Wednesday, 

The virus can be deadly, sending some to the hospital in need of help breathing. 

Others, like Berg, can weather the virus at home, but with uncomfortable symptoms that linger for weeks and force individuals to isolate, which can take a toll on emotional well being. 

“One of the hardest things besides the symptoms was not getting too down,” he said of his two-week quarantine and his family isolated from one another. Berg received a confirmed diagnosis, but his wife did not get tested. 

He said his wife experienced similar symptoms but also a loss of taste and sense of smell, a potential additional symptom of the coronavirus according to a British study. 

After starting to feel sick on March 16, Berg said he was directed by doctors to quarantine at home and told it was not worth getting tested. He decided to seek out a test anyways and eventually found one at an urgent care center in New York, where he was tested while he was three days into his fever, he said. 

Now, he’s recovered and sharing his story, but without more robust testing, he said he won’t know if he’s really clear of the virus or not. 

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NY Man Describes Coronavirus' Lasting Symptoms, Emotional Toll
After Josh Berg a 37-year-old Long Island resident spent a few days experiencing typical coronavirus symptoms like a high fever, slight chest pains, and terrible aches, he thought he was rounding the corner, only to be hit by what he called a second wave.
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