Former Waitaki Boys' High School pupil Dr Warren Lee was a fit and healthy cyclist before contracting Covid-19. PHOTO: NSW JEWISH BOARD OF DEPUTIES
A video of a former Waitaki Boys' High School pupil talking about his experience of contracting Covid-19 gives a new depth of meaning to "going viral".
Sydney doctor Warren Lee, whose family were North Otago market gardeners but no longer live here, has shocked the world with his description of how Covid-19 crept up on him and caused lasting damage.
Lee's case highlights the potentially severe and long-term effects of Covid-19 on relatively young people with no known risk factors. He had just turned 50, and was an avid cyclist.
"I like to think I'm reasonably fit," he said on the video posted on Facebook by the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies. The video has been viewed by more than 1.3 million people.
He was seeing flu patients at his Sydney practice on April 1, wearing a mask and full-sleeve gown.
"It all started just as a slight sore throat."
In keeping with guidelines he stopped working and went to a drive-through clinic to have a swab, then went home and stayed there for the next 29 days.
Lee said it was "quite a shock" to test positive for Covid-19 – the first case he had seen.
"What we're going through in July is absolutely no different from where we were in March.
"I think social distancing is the only thing we have. Nothing else works.
"It's going to be hard, but I think we just have to adjust, because if you get the virus the chances are you're probably going to be fine – you might be OK – but there's every chance you may not be.
"And that has a massive impact to your lifestyle.
"The 1 per cent fatality rate – you don't get to choose who that 1 per cent is."