One nurse in Wuhan says if she can conquer the coronavirus, anyone can.
And conquer it, she did. Jia Na, 24, a nurse at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, reportedly beat the virus in 11 days — gaining over 1.7 million Weibo followers in the process.
Jia, who chose to fight the virus at home, documented her journey in a series of Weibo posts, the most popular of which garnered over 300,000 likes.
It all started on Jan 23, when her arms and legs began to feel weak.
“I thought that it was because I was wearing a protective suit. But my colleague said that we should do a computed tomography (CT) scan,” she told China Global TV Network in Mandarin.
To her surprise, the CT scan showed lesions in her lungs that indicated she had contracted viral pneumonia.
The official diagnosis came the next day (Jan 24) when a nucleic acid test confirmed that she was infected with the coronavirus.
The diagnosis sent Jia into a spiral of self-doubt and fear.
“That night, I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about how I could have gotten infected,” she said. “I always believed in my immunity. I was really depressed and imagined myself dying. I was so scared.”
But things began to look up after Jia consulted her doctor, who reassured her that her condition was not serious and, according to her, gave her the choice to recuperate at home instead of admission to the hospital.
For Jia, staying at home was a no-brainer.
“There was no one else at home and hospital beds were in shortage. I wanted to save the beds for those who needed it more,” she explained.
Once she was safely isolated at home, it was time to battle the virus.
Her action plan consisted of the following steps: