'Not what you expect to catch trying to find love': Single mother, 38, catches coronavirus from her DATE - but she doesn't hold any hard feelings
- Amie Morris, 38, developed a sore throat and a fever within 24-hours of her date
- The mum-of-two was hospitalised 15 days later after struggling to breath
- She said the worst part of her three-week ordeal was no human interaction
Single mother Amie Morris (pictured) caught coronavirus from her date
A single mother has issued an important coronavirus warning to those in the market after she caught COVID-19 from a date with a man who had a 'dry cough'.
Within 24 hours of last month's date, 38-year-old Amie Morris had developed a sore throat and a fever.
Two weeks later she was so ill that she required emergency hospital admission as she was struggling to breathe.
'I was really shocked to catch the virus, it's the kind of thing you hear on the news but never think will happen to you,' Ms Morris told 7 News.
'It's not the kind of thing you expect to catch from trying to find love.'
Two days after the date, the mother-of-two was suffering headaches, felt nauseous and had lost her sense of smell and taste.
The radio producer from Bondi in Sydney's eastern suburbs said her primary concern at that time was not her own health but that of her young children and elderly parents, who were visiting from the UK.
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Her son and daughter stayed with their father and Ms Morris isolated herself in her bedroom to protect her parents.
She filmed a series of videos and posted them on Facebook documenting her recovery and listing some strange symptoms.
She was hospitalised 15 days later because she was struggling to breath and warned others to follow the self-isolation rules for their own protection
During her second week of isolation, Ms Morris said her skin felt 'tingly' around her waist, ribs and between her shoulder blades.
'It felt like I'd been sunburnt.'
After looking up the symptoms on Google, she thought she had shingles - a viral infection that causes blisters and rashes.
'Then I had really bad pains in my chest. I could feel when I was breathing deeply that my lungs hurt,' she said in a video.
Ms Morris said the fever stopped after a few days and she started to feel better.
Her date had overcome his illness by that point and tested negative to coronavirus, so she thought she too was on the road to recovery.
A day later, she went to the hospital emergency department because she was struggling to breath
Instead, her health deteriorated further.
'Had to take a trip to emergency due to breathing problems,' she wrote on Facebook.
'I seemed to have a decline in my lungs and really struggled to catch my breath.
'I called the public health department I have been talking to and they advised I went in and would call the emergency department to be prepared for me coming in.'
After eight days of treatment, her test results came back negative and she was able to reunite with her children.
Despite her physical suffering, and the anxiety of having a potentially deadly illness, Ms Morris said the worst part of her ordeal was having no human interaction.
'You really realise how important it is and how much physical touch you have with those you love,' she said.
Despite the awful outcome, the mum maintained contact with her date.
She said they checked in on each others symptoms and built a good friendship, until he returned to Europe after he lost his job.
Ms Morris' warning to others was to 'stay home, protect yourself and each other and just wait.'
