"About My Experience with COVID-19 in the UK"

This took quite a while, so I don't remember some details, but let me briefly recall.

Preface#

I remember a friend who arrived in Sheffield two months ago with symptoms and asked me to hang out. She was coughing, sneezing, and had a stuffy nose. She thought it was just a common cold, but when I asked her, she hadn't self-tested (in the UK, there are self-test kits available, and they could be delivered to your home for free before April 1st). That time, I didn't wear a mask 😷 and we had a meal together. After returning home, I felt something was off, so the next day I sent for a test kit, and half an hour later, it told me I was positive. So I isolated myself at home. Actually, what I was most afraid of was infecting my roommates because we lived in an en-suite, which means five individual rooms sharing a living room and kitchen. My attitude was quite carefree, I usually didn't wear a mask, believing in so-called freedom. On the other hand, my roommates were the type who were very afraid of getting infected, even wearing masks when there was no one around in the wilderness... But I took isolation seriously, and after five days, I felt fine and was released.

Cause#

The cause was that on March 26th, I smoked a cigarette from someone else, and that night, he told me he tested positive. But at that time, I didn't care anymore, after all, I had already experienced a direct face-to-face close contact. Actually, later on, I realized that I only didn't care about myself, but I still obediently isolated myself. After returning home, I started wearing a mask in the dormitory. On the night of the 27th, there were seven or eight people cooking in the dormitory. I wore a mask and took some food to eat in my own room, and I didn't stay for more than 5 minutes. On the 28th, my throat started to feel a bit hot, not painful or itchy, and I didn't cough. Until the morning of the 29th, the self-test was still normal, but in the early morning of the 29th, I tested weakly positive.

After thinking about it, I realized that I had only been in contact with my roommates these two days, so I notified them. The group chat exploded. I was fine, but my roommates were even more excited than me, as well as the friend who had dinner with us that day. The negative energy that followed really made my mood very complicated. I told the people I was close to about the result, just pure emotional release, except for those who were worried about me, I didn't deserve to tell them. I also told the people I had plans with, and that week happened to be the Easter break for the school, and everyone had planned their trips. So, unsurprisingly, I missed the trip to Turkey and Serbia.

Fighting the Epidemic#

March 30th was the most uncomfortable day, the symptoms worsened. My throat was still the same, low-grade fever of 27.7°C, and I felt dizzy at home, but every time I woke up, I was covered in sweat, the so-called alternating hot and cold.
March 31st The symptoms disappeared, and I was in a good mental state. I thought I was getting better.
April 1st My throat started to hurt and I had a stuffy nose, but I confidently self-tested again:

I'm speechless... I'm clearly strongly positive, but I don't have any symptoms...
April 3rd I'm still in a good mental state, even excited, and the symptoms are easing.
April 6th I'm asymptomatic, and the self-test finally came back negative.

Conclusion#

COVID-19 is a small issue, and I don't really care about it myself. It's not just the British people, many Chinese friends are also carefree. But unfortunately, some people do care, so there's nothing I can do. I can only say that either I get scolded and obediently wear a mask, or I play less with them.
As for the after-effects, when I was released, I didn't feel much impact from COVID-19. After a week, when I went to the gym, I felt that my cardiovascular and pulmonary functions had declined, and I also found it a bit difficult to lift weights without oxygen. However, I personally don't think it has a big impact, maybe it's because I didn't exercise for a long time while lying in bed, or maybe there are some irreversible effects, but for me, the impact is probably minimal.
I remember reading the news before that being infected might make you smaller, and I was really afraid of that (you can say I was afraid of this), but luckily it didn't happen to me.
Currently, I still cough, it's just that my throat is very itchy, who knows?