BEFORE testing positive for Covid-19 in October, Ellie Rix (21) was a fit and healthy young woman with no underlying health conditions, and a keen athlete, having represented Ulster and Ireland in U-8 rugby and Northern Ireland in U-15, U-16 and U-17 football.

Now, however, the Applied Sport and Exercise student struggles to get up and down stairs without feeling lightheaded and needing to catch her breath.

Ellie believes she is experiencing what medical experts describe as 'Long Covid', where symptoms of the coronavirus can last for weeks or even months after the initial infection has hit.

Speaking to the Impartial Reporter on her Long Covid symptoms, the Tamlaght woman said: “I still haven’t regained my sense of smell or taste, and if I [eat] it tastes like chemicals.

"Shortness of breath and a tight chest have been an issue for me; simple tasks like going up and down the stairs can leave me breathless and lightheaded on occasion. It’s bearable, but uncomfortable.”

Ellie had been studying at Northumbria University, Newcastle when the pandemic began and returned home.

 

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Like many other students, she returned to university in September, anticipating a return to classes. However, she then contracted coronavirus through a housemate.

She said: “My housemate had been going to the gym and she came down with flu-like symptoms and then lost her sense of smell and taste, so she went for her Covid test and came back positive, and we all had to self-isolate.

"Three days before our isolation was over, I noticed I had lost my sense of smell and taste, so I got a Covid-19 test and within 24 hours I got my positive result.”

Ellie had some of the symptoms of the coronavirus, but not the typical new and persistent cough.

She explained: “When I first tested positive, I had a fever and night sweats, the occasional headache and absolutely no appetite. I didn’t have the typical Covid cough, which I’m thankful for, because I could hear my housemate coughing relentlessly upstairs, and it sounded horrific.”

As well as having physical symptoms of Long Covid, contracting the virus has had a devastating impact on Ellie’s concentration and focus.

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She said: “I’ve noticed that my concentration and ability to focus on things has been impacted since testing positive. As a final year university student, I’m anxious about my future grades and the impact this will have on my degree and job opportunities, especially with everything being online.

“I find it difficult to concentrate on live [video call] lectures and to retain the information being taught; something I had no problem within the past.

"Writing notes has become such a longer task, I have to constantly refer back to a lecture slide to write out a simple sentence that I would usually be able to do in one go,” she told this newspaper.