Young COVID-19 patient who traveled to Miami Beach says it’s ‘most incredible pain’ he’s experienced

A 25-year-old Canadian who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus says he felt “the most incredible pain” he’s ever experienced while suffering from the virus’s symptoms.

David Anzarouth tested positive after taking a vacation to Miami Beach in early March, according to a report from CBC News.

Anzarouth says he attended the Winter Party Festival, a week-long event already linked to nine cases of the novel coronavirus.

The 25-year-old says he began feeling the worst effects on March 12. “My body felt like I had been flattened,” he said.

“There were points where I thought I might need to call 911 and to get picked up and to go to a hospital.”

Anzarouth’s experience isn’t necessarily representative of younger individuals who contract the virus. Most who do show symptoms develop a fever or cough and may have trouble breathing, though they do recover.

But older individuals and those with underlying health risks are susceptible to developing more severe symptoms.

Anzarouth says he arrived in South Florida on March 5 for the festival, which ran from March 4 to 10.

At that point, some large events in Miami-Dade County — such as Ultra Music Festival and Calle Ocho — had already been voluntarily postponed or canceled.

But Gov. Ron DeSantis did not recommend “mass gatherings” be postponed until March 12. On March 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended individuals avoid crowds of more than 50. The next day, March 16, President Donald Trump said people should not gather in groups larger than 10.

Without those government warnings, Anzarouth said he wanted to take full advantage of the trip.

“It was definitely on everybody’s mind but … at the time, we thought, ‘Let’s not lose all this money.’ I myself have been needing a vacation, so I said, ‘Let’s go,'” Anzarouth told CBC News.

Following the festival, he flew back to Toronto on March 11 while feeling fatigued. “At that point, [airport staff] were only asking if I went to China within the last 14 days or Italy,” Anzarouth said.

“They weren’t doing any sort of medical checks. They weren’t doing anything further.”

He says he struggled with symptoms for days before the festival began being linked to cases. That’s when he visited the hospital and received a test for the COVID-19 virus, which came back positive.

“There’s no one to blame … I understand that I put myself into a place where I risked my health,” he said.

While many don’t suffer from such severe symptoms, Anzarouth said he wants people to take the disease more seriously.

“This is something that’s going to affect all of us. This is something that’s going to take all of us to fix.”