Testing positive for COVID-19 during the holidays can be disappointing and worrisome as you quarantine away from family and friends and hope your symptoms don’t worsen. This is what San Diegan Shannon Taylor is dealing with as her doctors suspect she caught the omicron variant.
“It's really scary, you know, it's scary not being able to breathe," said Taylor.
Taylor, 35, shares how she recently had gone to a small dinner party with friends who were all fully vaccinated, later she found out someone had tested positive for COVID-19.
“So out of an abundance of caution, I went and got tested, I didn't have any symptoms, I felt great," said Taylor. "I came back positive and I was completely shocked like blown away because I felt so good."
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Taylor's two sons are 5 and 10-years-old, they have each tested negative but recently developed mild symptoms. Both the boys had each received their first dose of the vaccine. Taylor was fully vaccinated and had recently received her booster shot.
“I just got my booster and I think it gave me a little bit more comfort than I should have had," she said.
Taylor is an actress and filmmaker and says she regularly tests and has never received a positive result. Despite her age and health status, Taylor said she went to the ER out of an abundance of caution as she is concerned with lung scarring she has from a previous pneumonia infection.
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“I could not catch my breath, even now I struggle a little talking, but I couldn't catch my breath," she said via video interview on Thursday. "I felt all this pain in my chest, felt like bricks were on my chest."
Taylor is now on the mend as she quarantines at home with her two sons. Despite having to stay apart from other family and friends this Christmas, she says they are keeping positive.
"I will say like the first few days I was like crying nonstop, I was super depressed and I was depressed that we were missing out on so much," said Taylor. "But also just scared like what, what does this mean? How is it gonna affect my body?"
Taylor says going to the ER gave her so much perspective.
"Going there and then coming out and being like okay let's just like reset everything, like we're gonna be okay."
Taylor’s doctors believe she may have omicron due to her milder symptoms, she is now waiting for her results to see what variant she caught.
"It's just gonna be a Christmas for the books," she said.
