WINDSOR, ONT. -- The Unemployed Help Centre’s CEO is pleading with the public to remain vigilant this Thanksgiving weekend — seven months since she tested positive for COVID-19.
“It’s real,” CEO June Muir said. “It’s out there. It’s not going away and it’s not fun to watch.”
Muir says she is still coping with the long term effects of the respiratory illness, which she says she caught early last March following a trip to New York.
“When I got that call that I was positive, I didn’t believe it,” she said. “I actually started to cry because I didn’t believe it. I thought I had a flu, I thought I had a cold, and I thought what’s next?”
What’s next was Muir spreading the virus to her husband Bill, whom she recovered with at home.
Since then, Muir tells CTV News she has continued to suffer hair loss, fatigue and heart palpitations.
“You do not know if you’re going to not be able to breathe, end up in hospital, survive or maybe die,” she said. “That’s the reality. We don’t know if COVID is going to kill us.”
Muir considers herself a “long-hauler,” someone who still hasn’t completely recovered from COVID-19, weeks, even months after the first sign of symptoms.
“They play on you, and you’re going through this emotional time not knowing am I going to end up in hospital? Am I going to be able to breathe? Am I going to survive?” she said.
Muir said staff at The Unemployed Help Centre will distribute turkeys later this week at the drive-thru food bank.
An initiative that began during her recovery.
Muir said she’s thankful for the healthcare staff in Windsor-Essex, urging everyone to keep wearing masks as a sign of support to healthcare workers.
“If we don’t wear the mask, why should we depend on them to take care of us?” she said.
