When Houston television anchor Melanie Lawson started feeling ill and coughing a few weeks ago, COVID-19 didn’t even cross her mind. She had been taking all the precautions recommended, and was floored when her doctor told her she had coronavirus.
When Houston television anchor Melanie Lawson started feeling ill and coughing a few weeks ago, COVID-19 didn’t even cross her mind. Lawson said she had been taking all the precautions recommended amid the coronavirus pandemic, including wearing a mask, washing her hands and social distancing.
So, the KTRK-TV newswoman was floored when her doctor told her she had tested positive for the virus.
“I haven’t been to a restaurant probably since March, except to pick up food, I haven’t been in a store … our church services are now online so I haven’t been to church,” she told Inside Edition. “I thought I would be the last person to be exposed, or certainly, the last person to get sick.”
Her symptoms quickly got worse, and she self-quarantined.
“I got headaches and I had body aches and then the real kicker was when I lost my sense of taste and smell and suddenly, everything tasted like cardboard,” she said. “And also, probably the most lingering sensation is exhaustion. It’s all you can do to just sort of get up and walk across the room.”
Lawson spoke to her viewers about the experience of having COVID-19, and shared videos she took at home as she battled the virus. The camera rolled as Lawson checked her oxygen levels and took vitamins and medicine to relieve the symptoms.
Lawson, who is now back at work, said her doctor told her that wearing a mask may have saved her from an even worse case of COVID-19.
“Perhaps because I was so fastidious about wearing my mask, that may have helped me not get as heavy a viral load as I might have otherwise, so I think there are a lot of advantages to that,” she said. “Not the least of which is you obviously keep other people from getting sick as well."
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