CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte mom and business owner is choosing to share her journey with COVID-19 on social media to let others know what she knows now — it can happen to anyone.
Jenny Vallimont said she was nervous from the beginning of the pandemic about getting the virus due to her heart conditions, which put her in a high-risk category.
“From day one, I was just, I guess, petrified of getting this,” Vallimont said.
Due to her condition and a desire to take precautions before seeing her in-laws, Vallimont decided to take a COVID-19 test through CVS on July 9.
She had no symptoms at the time of the test or in the five days that followed, Vallimont said. When her test result came back on July 14, she said it was positive for COVID-19.
"I saw the message come through, and I was like, 'Oh my God', so I started like freaking out,” Vallimont added.
Her thoughts immediately went to her family.
Between the days when she took the test and received the results, Vallimont said she and her daughter had been in close quarters at their cabin in the mountains.
"The initial stuff was I felt guilt that I had exposed my family to this,” she said. “Even though, I know, I did everything I could to protect ourselves. Like, we're actually a very safe and conservative family on this front."
Luckily, her son, daughter, husband, and parents, who she had seen briefly before the test, all tested negative for COVID-19.
Vallimont said she didn’t start experiencing any symptoms until July 15, the day after her results came back.
"My symptoms were, like, a slight headache and like a little bit of a runny nose, and I kind of felt tired, but it's all that stuff that like it could be anything,” she added.
Vallimont decided to share her journey on her family’s Instagram page, @theunpluggedfamily. She’s answered questions surrounding her test results and kept a log of her daily symptoms.
Over the weekend, she said she even went to the emergency room at the hospital after she felt slight pain around her chest.
Vallimont said one of the most concerning parts about getting the virus has been that no medical professionals reached out after her positive test result, even though she is considered high-risk.
“I had notified my primary care, and they had just sent me an email that said take Tylenol if you need it,” she said. “Go to the hospital if you’re having trouble breathing.”
Following her brief trip to the hospital, Vallimont said she was enrolled in a virtual hospital where a nurse calls every day to check on her. But since she was 10 days out from her positive test, she was discharged from the virtual hospital quickly.
“I think my biggest piece of advice is if you get it, make sure that you’re advocating for yourself,” Vallimont said.
She said feels like she hit the peak of the virus on July 20.
Vallimont has been isolating from her family and hopes she’ll be reunited with her husband and kids by Thursday, two weeks after taking the test.
Vallimont said she wanted to share her journey to let others know that it can happen to anyone, not just people who are being irresponsible.
“I felt guilt and then I felt shame,” Vallimont said. “I didn’t want to tell people, and then I was like, 'That’s probably the opposite of what we need right now.' And as soon as I started sharing, a ton of people told me the same thing. That they had either had it or they thought they had it, and that they didn’t tell people because they were ashamed.”
By opening up, Vallimont said she has seen others start to share their own experiences and remove the stigma surrounding the virus.