UoL student hospitalised after mistaking COVID-19 for fatigue from ‘too many squats’

‘I thought I’d just overdone the squats’

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A Liverpool student spent eight days on a ventilator after dismissing coronavirus symptoms for simply being tired after doing too many squats.

Lucy Patterson, a Zoology student, told The Liverpool Tab: “I first felt the symptom of shortness of breath starting and as the days went on it got much worse. Walking up the stairs felt like a mountain.”

The final year collapsed in her house on Langdale Road and called her GP after struggling to breathe. “On the night I collapsed my lungs felt tiny like I was consciously controlling my breathing”, she said. She was then moved to Liverpool Royal University Hospital.

“Although students have a lower chance of flat out dying it doesn’t mean you can’t get close!” Lucy told The Tab

Lucy, who commonly believed she was at “low-risk” of the virus because of her age and having no prior health conditions, said she was “terrified” after being told she had pneumonia in 50 per cent of her lungs and had to be put on a ventilator that night.

“I was completely alone and had to tell my mum and dad over video call” recalls Lucy, who was isolating in Smithdown with her university housemates and not back in Northern Ireland with her family as she “didn’t want to risk bringing it into the house back home.”

“Before I was also in the ‘uni can’t be over yet’ mentality so wanted to stay on with my flatmates and try and make lockdown fun, ironic.”

Lucy would like to thank all the NHS staff who helped her

“Uni has been really good about it,” Lucy told The Tab, “I had a meeting about getting an extension for my dissertation over Microsoft Teams and he basically asked how much time I thought I would need. I’ve been told by staff I definitely qualify for extenuating circumstances.”

When thinking forward to Freshers’ Week, Lucy commented: “Poor freshers is all I can say. My first night out in Concert Square was the highlight of uni.”

Although Lucy feels “100 per cent back to normal,” she claims that she’s “breathless much quicker” as the middle of her lungs try to catch up with the rest that didn’t have pneumonia. “I’m doing my best to push through and get my fitness up again.”

Lucy wants to remind everyone that the virus does not discriminate: “It is not an old person only disease, it feels awful!”

Sad about the potential of Freshers’ Week being canceled? Lucy added: “For those upset about their lost Freshers’ ask yourself: ‘tube shots with folk you’ve met that morning, or tubes down your throat on a ventilator?'”