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A Venice Local Shares Her Covid Story

Rae McQuade Learned The Hard Way To Take The Illness Seriously

Rae McQuade was simply going about her life when the Corona virus began to spread locally back in the late winter and early spring. A youthful 59, Rae relocated to Venice from her native New England four years ago, to be close to her aging father. Working at Venice Regional Bayfront Hospital the past three years as an orthopedic technician, Rae pushed through long, 12-hour shifts. In her off hours, she loved to play hard, to connect with her friends, and blow off steam.

Rae’s job involved caring for actual Corona virus patients. 

“We have a dedicated Covid unit,” Rae says. “The hospital did everything it could to protect all of us working on the front lines, it provided us with the necesssary PPE. I was floated from my unit to the Covid unit a couple of times because of staffing issues. One night in March, I was in the ICU where there were a half dozen really, really sick patients. They were on ventilators, so very ill, unable to do anything, it was sad and scary. Most had underlying conditions, such as diabetes, heart issues, compromised immune systems. I felt safe because of the fact that I don’t have any underlying conditions.”

Six weeks after the state lockdown was lifted at the end of April, Rae found herself on a Friday night sitting with a group of friends at a local pool party, not socially distanced and everyone mask-less. With the mixed messaging on masks and the virus nationally, she thought her good health would protect her.

It didn’t.

“I was sitting there with my friends when I felt myself getting sick,” Rae explains of her mid-June experience. “A wave of fatigue washed over me and I must have turned pale because my friend said, ‘Whoa! Are you ok?’ I really didn't feel good at all and decided to leave. I could barely make it from my car to my couch. Within an hour, I had body aches from head to toe, a headache, sore throat, even my teeth hurt and I had the hacking Covid cough. That cough was the nastiest thing I have ever heard.  The fatigue was so intense I had to crawl on my hands and knees just to make it to the bathroom.”

Rae considered calling an ambulance, but she knew hospital beds were in demand, and in her illness addled thinking, she didn’t want to leave behind the cat she was pet sitting. She spent the weekend sicker than she had ever been in her life, and was tested for Covid at an urgent care that Monday morning. The test came back positive.

On leave from the hospital ever since, Rae now has a message for anyone willing to listen. 

“This is real. I’ve experienced it both personally and professionally,” Rae explains. “I was really sick for a week. I still have fatigue months later. My short-term memory has been affected. I have what people who have contracted the virus call ‘Covid brain.’ It affects your ability to think clearly long after you start to feel better.”

No one else at the pool party contracted Covid and Rae has no idea where she contracted the virus. But the lessons of Covid stay with her.

“I thought because I was healthy, I wasn’t at risk,” Rae says. “Now I stay home as much as possible, avoid places that don’t socially distance, and I wear a mask. It was reckless for me not to take this more seriously. I hope others will read my story and make whatever changes they need to in order to protect themselves.”

Rae McQuade is a cat sitter and a wedding officiant. She can be reached at 941.218.9196, Rae.mcquade@yahoo.com.

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