I'm 33 and coronavirus left me struggling for breath

Richard Godden, a software engineer from Wandsworth, south west London, has “zero clue” where he picked up the virus.

Last Thursday morning the 33-year-old started to get a “very minor” cough and, mindful of the advice circulated by health authorities, he called his bosses and told them he would work from home.

“Throughout the morning I started feeling more and more strange,” he remembers. “By the afternoon I decided I was sick.” He had become feverish, with all the symptoms of a flu. The illness continued through the following day, but by about noon on Saturday, Godden says, he was feeling much better. He was thinking about going back to work.

Then on Sunday afternoon he started to cough again. “It was different this time, sort of a tightness in my chest. I felt like I was unable to breathe properly.” It worsened as the day wore on.

At 10pm, Godden decided he had better call 111, the NHS emergency advice line. He explained his symptoms, his shortness of breath, and a call handler told him he needed to get to hospital. He made his way there in an Uber.

He was met at the accident and emergency department of St George’s hospital, Tooting, by a nurse in a surgical mask, who made sure he put one on as well before coming inside. Inside, everyone – doctors, nurses, patients and visitors – was also wearing one. Godden, still coughing and struggling for breath, was put on fluids and given paracetamol.

Doctors carried out blood tests and other tests on Godden, which showed positive for coronavirus. “My levels were on the border of positive, but given my symptoms they were calling it a confirmed case,” he says.

Godden was unlucky. According to the World Health Organization, about 80% of people with Covid-19 recover without needing any specialist treatment. Only about one person in six becomes seriously ill “and develops difficulty breathing”.

Godden was grateful for the diagnosis. “When I found out I had coronavirus it was just a feeling that at least I’m not exaggerating my symptoms, and told it’s not just all in my mind.” By 4am, his breathing had eased and doctors decided he could go home – again, in an Uber.

By the time he got him, he felt the best he had since coming down with the illness and fell into a deep sleep. On Monday morning, although still feverish and coughing, he was nevertheless able to eat for the first time in days. After that, the symptoms were on and off, “like waves of getting better and worse again”.

“Some days I feel like I’m 100% better, then I get a cough. I still notice if I breathe too deeply there’s a clenching and sharpness in my chest.”

Related: Coronavirus UK: how many confirmed cases are in your area?

Godden lives alone so there was no need to take any special infection control measures other than self-quarantining. His sister was able to deliver food for him, and he was eventually able to get a food delivery from Tesco.

“The only disappointing thing was my son came over from Germany to see me, and obviously he was not able to,” says Godden. “He’s nine months old … I saw him through the window.”

Despite his diagnosis, Godden says he has had no contact from public health officials about contact tracing.

By Friday morning, Godden said he was feeling “100% better.” But, he adds: “I’m wary because I felt I was 100% better [on Sunday] and then suddenly it hit me quite strongly and pretty fast.”

The thing he wants others to know about the disease is how it comes and goes in waves. “So thinking that you are all better can be a bit dangerous,” he says. “I was preparing to go to work and I was preparing to go out on that Sunday morning. I didn’t but I could have, and that could have spread it.”