US ambassador in ICU for 10 days

The United States of America’s ambassador to South Africa, Lana Marks, has described the frightening experience of contracting COVID-19 and landing up in the intensive-care unit (ICU) of a local hospital for 10 days. She spent another three days in the general COVID-19 unit, and is now at home, on the road to recovery.

In a statement released on 11 January 2021, she said, “I share with you my story in order to further de-stigmatise discussions around COVID-19. Only through sharing information about the virus can we understand how to prevent its spread and treat it.”

Talking about how medical professionals “had my life in their hands,” Marks said she “will forever be grateful for the excellent level of care that I received from the South African doctors and nurses who tended to me in the hospital”.

It all began on Boxing Day, 26 December 2020, when she started to experience fever, chills, a sore throat, and fatigue. “A family member simultaneously began to experience similar symptoms, and, though we had been vigilant about mask-wearing and social-distancing, suspecting that we had become infected with COVID-19, we immediately began to isolate at home. Prior to this, with our residence staff on holiday, we had been by ourselves for several days,” she wrote in the statement.

She started to experience shortness of breath and extreme weakness, and as her symptoms worsened, she was admitted to hospital like thousands of other South Africans fighting for their lives in the face of the virus.

“Upon the advice of our medical team at the United States Embassy, I was admitted to seek supplemental oxygen and therapeutic treatment. Shortly after admission on 28 December, I was moved to the ICU, where I remained for 10 days before spending three more days in the COVID-19 unit. Late last week, I was discharged and continue to receive care at home. My condition is improving, and the doctors are confident that I will eventually make a full recovery,” she wrote.

She described COVID-19 as a “tremendously serious and unpredictable illness. It has been the most physically debilitating thing I have ever experienced.”

She noted that she is “just one of tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients that South Africa’s healthcare workers and hospitals have treated with the utmost professionalism, putting their own lives at risk in order to practice their calling. Having seen them on the frontlines of this battle for nearly a year, I will always remember their heroism and dedication and all that they sacrifice and risk as they fight this dangerous illness on behalf of their countrymen.”

Her message is to ask people to maintain the non-pharmaceutical interventions that are the only weapons we have in the war against COVID-19. “Wash your hands, maintain physical distance, wear your masks, and abide by the rules of lockdown. These regulations are in place to save lives and to keep hospitals available for those who truly need it. I’m fortunate to have had a bed and a medical team available for me in my time of need. We must all do our utmost to give that same opportunity to those who need it.”