Mahanoy man shares story following coronavirus diagnosis
MAHANOY CITY – A Mahanoy City man is sharing his experience with the disease COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, following his receipt of positive test results Friday.
Ryan Fannock, 28, of Mahanoy City told the Sentinel Friday night of his “very mild” case, as he described it, stressing that even the mildest of symptoms can indicate a coronavirus infection.
“I had very mild symptoms Thursday [March 26],” Fannock said. “On the 26, I had a fever, it was 100.2°F, which is below what the CDC recommends to test for, but the doctor that I spoke to decided to test me anyway.”
Fannock, well-known from his East Central PA Weather Talk group, said he contacted Lehigh Valley Health Network via their app on Friday, and scheduled a test for Saturday, March 28, at their Hazleton testing center. He received his results Friday, April 3, which he said came back positive for COVID-19.
“That Thursday, when I had the fever, I had a coughing fit — it wasn’t long, it only lasted maybe 25 minutes to a half hour — where I was coughing and it was hard to breathe,” said Fannock. “I was actually gagging, because it was hard to breathe. That alarmed me a little bit.”
He added that, on Tuesday, March 24, he had “a minor sore throat,” which he suspected was caused by allergies, which dissipated shortly after.
His fever, which averaged around 99°F, he said, dissipated after Saturday, March 28.
“You can have the littlest symptoms and still have coronavirus,” Fannock stressed. “You don’t have to have the severe fever or shortness of breath — you can have a very mild case.”
Fannock added that three of his family members, who also had symptoms, were tested as well, and all received varying types of tests, he said, all of which went in the nose.
One went in both nostrils for a short time. The other two relatives received it in only one nostril, again, for a short time.
“When I got it done, they stuck it in both nostrils for 30 seconds apiece,” Fannock said. “It was a very uncomfortable test.”
The test took a minute, he said. His came back positive, and the other three came back negative. He expressed concerns the other tests could’ve been false negatives.
“It makes me wonder, if they had the test the way I had it, would they have come up positive,” Fannock said, “because they had every symptom.”
One of the relatives is still dealing with symptoms, and is being treated by antibiotics in the wake of the negative result.
“I want people to know that you need to get out there and get tested even if you have the slightest symptom,” Fannock said. “I was running a 99°F fever the majority of the time. It went up to 100.2°F briefly.”
“If it’s going to be that mild, other people should get tested too, because there’s probably a lot more cases out there than we know about,” Fannock added.
Fannock added that he was told, because of his positive result, his household members are under quarantine until April 14 and didn’t need to be tested, according to the LVHN doctor he consulted who said they would assume the household members are positive too.
“That could be more confirmed cases that we are unaware of because they won’t test them,” Fannock said. “She said the only thing you would need to do is go to a hospital if the symptoms get so bad you need medical attention.”
Fannock added he was advised that, if he didn’t have a fever for three days, and seven days had passed since his first symptom, he was clear to leave quarantine.
He stressed the importance of staying home and social distancing.
“You’ve got to stay home, keep washing your hands, keep sanitizing,” Fannock stressed. “I can’t stress that enough that you may have mild cold symptoms with a very mild fever and have coronavirus symptoms.”
“Then, you don’t even think twice about getting tested because it doesn’t sound as bad as the coronavirus and you’re infecting more people down the line because you thought you had a mild case of what could be allergies or a cold,” Fannock said.
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