Farmingdale Man Talks Having Coronavirus: 'It's A Crappy Virus'

FARMINGDALE, NY — As the new coronavirus has spread, more than 60,000 Long Islanders tested positive and experienced varying symptoms. Michael Nistad, 46, of Farmingdale, is one of those who had the virus. Nistad spoke with Patch about having the coronavirus, self-isolating, and his biggest concern: not spreading it to his family.

Nistad's symptoms included fevers, harsh pain in his upper and lower back, sore legs, and diarrhea. While he's since recovered from those, he's yet to regain his senses of taste and smell.

"It was pretty intense," he said. "I didn’t get it as bad as some other people got it as far as going to the hospital. I guess I’m very lucky. It was still nerve-wracking."

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Nistad, who believes he contracted the virus at a store, said he began feeling all his symptoms March 29. By the end of the week, he said he was at his worst, with a 102-degree fever. Following an April 5 call to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where he was told tests were unavailable, he called his doctor the next day, explained his symptoms, and was told he "most likely" had it. The CDC called Nistad back to tell him a test opened up April 9. While he was improving by then, Nistad went to Jones Beach for the test, and his suspicions were confirmed in results April 15: He had COVID-19.

While most of his symptoms cleared by the time the test results came in, Nistad said he was "bothered" by the delay between being tested and learning he had the virus. However, he said his early hunch led him to self-isolate from his wife, Danielle, and daughter, Brianna.

While Nistad doesn't have any underlying health conditions, his wife has asthma. He was initially worried about the virus possibly entering his lungs and causing a hospital visit where he'd be put on a ventilator, but he said he was more worried about infecting his family.

"[My wife] was one of the ones I was more worried about than anything," he said.

Nistad said the back pain was the worst part of it; he was sleeping two hours a night at the height of it. Through having the coronavirus, he said it helped that he drank hot fluids such as tea with lemon and his wife's homemade chicken soup broth. He also said moving around and walking — away from anyone else — helped him.

"I’m not a doctor, but it worked for me. I hope it can work for somebody else," he said. "I feel bad for anybody who gets this virus, because it’s a crappy virus."

While he said he might have had a "mild case" of COVID-19, he encouraged everyone to follow the safety guidelines to help curb it from spreading.

"It’s real," he said. "Do the social distancing. If you go out in public, wear the mask and gloves, even if you feel it’s ‘not cool.’ Well, you know what? To me, you look like a fool if you don’t have it on."

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