Krystal Steinmetz describes experiences with COVID-19

Krystal Steinmetz of Havre said she recovered from a mild case of COVID-19 more than a month ago, but even now she's still dealing with the lingering effects of the disease.

Steinmetz, who is the marketing and events director for the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line said her experience with the virus was extremely unpleasant even though her case was relatively minor.

But even so many weeks later, she said, she still feels what she called a lingering fog in her mind, often making it difficult to think. Steinmetz said it even made it tricky to vocalize what the problem itself was.

"I went to tell my husband, I was trying to think of the word to tell him how I was feeling, and I was like, 'I can't even think of the word.' I literally couldn't think of the work cognitive," she said.

Steinmetz said this fog has been getting better over time but having these issues all this time later is incredibly frustrating.

She also said she only regained her sense of smell and taste two weeks ago, and even now still has moments where those sense temporarily disappear again.

"I'm almost six weeks on from being sick, and I still have moments when I can't smell or taste anything, even today," she said."It is really unnerving."

Contracting the disease

Steinmetz said the experience of being sick with COVID-19 was deeply unpleasant, especially since she was campaigning for House District 28's seat in the State House of Representative in the 2020 election at the time.

She said her case was somewhat atypical starting with nausea and vomiting just before election day, which she initially assumed was a stomach virus.

On Election Day, she said, she was doubling over with abdominal pain even as she tried to participate in the home stretch of her campaign.

"I was trying to make voter calls for my campaign," she said. "... As you can imagine, they didn't go well."

Later, on Election Day, she noticed that even though she wasn't stuffed up, her sense of smell, followed shortly by her sense of taste, had all but disappeared.

At that point, she said, she suspected what it was.

Steinmetz said she called the Hill County Health Department and got a test at the hospital which came back positive, by which time the aches and fatigue had set in.

She said she didn't, however, have much of fever, her temperature never rising above 99 degrees, a testament to the disease's diversity of symptoms.

She said it's worth noting just how bad the disease was even though she's a relatively healthy person who got a mild case.

"It's not something I'd ever want to experience again," she said.

Steinmetz said her experience also made clear just how contagious the virus is since she doesn't even know where or how she got it.

She said the only places she goes nowadays is to work, where the guidelines are followed, and to pick up her children from school during which she stays in her car.

She said the fact that people can get it so easily is all the more reason that people need to be extremely careful.

"It's a scary virus, and people should treat it as such," she said.

Symptoms and long-term problems

Steinmetz said, especially when the disease was at it's worst, losing two out of the five senses was extremely disorienting.

She said when she heard people talk about the loss of taste and smell, a very common symptom of COVID-19, it didn't seem like that big a deal, but experience quickly changed her mind.

"I mean that doesn't seem like a big deal, you know? Maybe use that time to diet because nothing tastes good? No, it's not worth it, it's just awful," she said.

Her husband, who also got COVID-19 many weeks before her in a completely unrelated case of transmission, had his sense of taste come back within a week, but she hasn't been as fortunate.

The third symptom that has lingered, for Steinmetz is the fatigue, which she said, is still very significant despite her situation being better than many who get COVID-19.

She said she finds it disturbing to think about how tired people who had more serious cases feel even weeks after the fact.

"I can't even imagine the fatigue that a lot of people have," she said.

Frustrating attitudes

During her campaign Steinmetz expressed frustration with the people who insist that the pandemic is somehow not real, or who refuse to wear masks and follow public health guidelines.

She said her experience with COVID-19 has only galvanized her belief that people need to take the pandemic more seriously or more will go through what she did, or far worse.

"This has only strengthened the resolve I had before that this is serious and we need to be proactive in how we're going to fight it," she said.

Steinmetz said her experience with COVID-19 is not something she wants anyone to go through, and that people in the community have the power and empathy to slow the virus down, despite recent behavior she finds disappointing.

"Havre is an incredibly generous and caring community," she said. "It's one of the first things I noticed when I moved here in 2004, and it's one thing I still see in the people today, and knowing that it's incredibly frustrating to see people and their blatant disregard for public health recommendations and the safety of those around them."

She said efforts to mock others for taking the pandemic seriously, like people making masks with the image of a sheep on them, are especially galling to her.

"It's not funny," she said. "... I'm not living in fear. I'm living in a way to protect my neighbors."

She said she understands the emotional stress the pandemic has inflicted upon everyone, especially the isolation it causes.

Steinmetz said she's been desperate to visit her mother but can't, and she cries every week because she can't see her because she doesn't want to risk her mother's life.

"I had a mild case and it was awful," she said. "I don't want anyone else to get sick."

Steinmetz said she has similar woes when it comes to younger members of the family as well.

"I have a nephew that's been born in Washington state and I haven't been able to meet him yet, because of this virus," she said.

Despite this stress, Steinmetz said, the continuing willingness by many to disbelieve the danger is disturbing, especially when it has killed people in the community.

"It's unconscionable to me, and I don't understand it," she said.