Photo By Preston Chasteen | U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District Chief of Safety, Mike Kerr, donated 650...... read more read more
After realizing he had lost his sense of taste and smell, Mike Kerr immediately isolated himself. Kerr, the safety manager for the Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers then got tested for COVID-19.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is anecdotal evidence that loss of smell and taste were reported by people with COVID-19. Patients also reported fever and chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea.
“Upon initial symptoms, I self-isolated from my family members and we cleaned everything in the house - over and over again,” said Kerr.
“Knowing that my test results could take a couple of days, I immediately notified friends and co-workers who were in close contact with me that I was being tested for the virus.”
I didn’t know anyone who had the virus before me, so I really didn’t know what to expect, stated Kerr.
“The scariest part was getting it early and the unknown of what to expect,” said Kerr. “There was not a lot of information in the U.S., and all we really heard was about how rapidly the virus was spreading and the deaths in places like the Seattle area.”
After recovering, Kerr realized that he could help other people and donated 650 ml of convalescent plasma.
“I felt as though I had a responsibility to give plasma to help other Oklahomans in their recovery. I was approached by a local hospital and they started the process with Oklahoma Blood Institute.”
According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s website, to date Oklahoma has identified 94,352 cases across the state with 13,066 active cases, 80,211 people recovered and 1,075 cases resulting in death.
Kerr was notified by letter that all of his plasma had gone to recipients suffering from the virus.
“I’m glad that through our suffering, we helped someone who was suffering worse,” said Kerr.
(Story by Hollie D. James, Tulsa District Public Affairs)
| Date Taken: | 10.07.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.07.2020 13:47 |
| Story ID: | 380448 |
| Location: | TULSA, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 31 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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