Covid left doctor (23) in ICU ‘wondering would I die’

A 23-year-old doctor who had to be admitted to ICU after contracting Covid-19 has urged young people who believe themselves to be immune to the virus to “think twice” and to follow public health guidance.

Dr Owen O’Flynn, from Kerry, says he is still feeling the effects of the infection, months after he was hospitalised last April.

He says that while older people are most at risk of the disease, it can still have devastating effects on people of any age. “There is no real way of telling who will deteriorate and who will get through it without severe symptoms.”

“I am a 23-year-old, who maintained a high level of fitness and I ended up in ICU due to Covid-19,” he told Monday’s briefing by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).

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In late March, Dr O’Flynn said he started to experience a loss of sense of smell and taste, but no other symptoms. Under the criteria at the time, he did not qualify for a test and recovered after a week.

However, on April 26th, he started to feel unwell after a day working in ICU, with symptoms such as stomach pain, temperature spikes, sweating, vomiting and diarrhoea. He tested negative “as I wasn’t actively shedding virus at that time”.

Admitted to hospital for suspected gastroenteritis, he tested negative a second time.

After his heart tracing showed signs of damage and his oxygen levels dropped, he was re-swabbed. “The results showed I had had a Covid-19 infection around four to six weeks earlier.”

Doctors informed him of a then newly diagnosed inflammatory condition related to Kawasaki syndrome, he said.

“Later that evening, I rapidly deteriorated. My oxygen levels reduced and in the space of a minute I was unable to finish a sentence.”

He was admitted to ICU, and experienced acute respiratory and heart failure. “At that point I started to wonder would I ever get out of ICU, would I die in there?”

“Thankfully, everything slowly started to resolve. I was discharged to the ward from ICU and a week later I was discharged home.

Dr O’Flynn said it took six weeks “to regain a sense of normality” and even today he has reduced levels of fitness.

Nphet reported 825 new cases on Monday evening and one further coronavirus-related death.

Some 78 per cent of new cases were under 45 years of age, and the median age was 30.