By Beacon Staff
Wendi Riggins of Burlington never had a cough.
A dry cough is one of the primary symptoms of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and though Riggins feared she may have been infected, she told herself she was probably being paranoid.
But her week-long fever just wouldn’t break.
“It felt like a sinus infection,” she said.
When she lost her sense of taste and smell, another symptom of COVID-19, Riggins grew more concerned. She’s a type 1 diabetic, has two children at home, and a husband who qualifies as an essential worker — he’s a delivery driver.
To complicate matters, Riggins has been sewing masks for the general public for the past few weeks, often working 12 hours a day at her sewing machine. Her stomach dropped in fear, her worries multiplied by the possibility of infecting someone else.
“When I started, I had a waiting list 400 or 500 deep,” she said.
Riggin has produced 2,700 masks so far, and though she’s meticulous about keeping clean surfaces and hands, she sat on her couch and cried at the possibility she may have infected someone.
She contacted every client she could, one-by-one, to let them know she had contracted COVID-19. She stopped making masks as soon as she was diagnosed on May 1, and will be self-isolating for the next two weeks.
Thankfully, Riggins said, she is suffering from more minor symptoms, although she’s been sick for two weeks now.
“I’m still tired. Really tired. If I don’t take a nap in the middle of the day, I hit a wall,” she said.
The Long Journey To A COVID-19 Test
Riggins had been sick for more than a week before she could get tested, and spent much of that time trying to track down a corona test. She took the TestIowa test online, which said she qualified for a coronavirus test in Des Moines.
“I wasn’t going to drive three hours for a test,” she said. “I called and asked if there was any other way I could get tested, and they didn’t have anything for me.”
Riggins figured she was being overly cautious and is no stranger to sinus infections. She was diagnosed with Influenza B in February, which has nothing to do with COVID-19.
“That was way worse. It was horrible,” she said.
But still, she insisted, asking friends and relatives how she could get tested. It was the simplest suggestion that turned out to be the right one.
Why not go to Illinois? Riggins found out through a friend that Eagle View Community Health System in Oquawka, Ill., was providing testing, so she set up a teleconference appointment with a doctor.
“I was really nervous. Do they even test people from Iowa in Illinois?” she said.
Not only does the Eagle View Community Health System test anyone from anywhere, but the doctor also encouraged Riggins to make an appointment. Eagle View has a drive-by testing site at a nearby produce stand, so she didn’t even have to leave her car.
“They were wearing PPE equipment from head to toe, and they came to my window,” she said.
It was just as painful and awkward as she had read on the internet. The swab isn’t as soft as it looks. It feels more like a steel rod, she said, and it didn’t fit into her nose properly the first time.
“It felt like it was going into the back of my skull,” she said. “My nose didn’t feel normal for half-an-hour afterward.”
Three days later, Riggins got a call confirming she was infected, making her the 17th diagnosed case of COVID-19 in Des Moines County. She likely would have just hunkered down and not pursued a test at all, if she hadn’t been making the masks.
“I was very on the fence about the test. I convinced myself I was fine,” she said. “After I left the test, I felt bad for wasting their time but they were wonderful.”
Riggins had to put her photography business on hold as the pandemic began. Her children had to put their school lives on hold, too. And now her husband has to stay home from work as he self-quarantines with the family.
It’s a small price to pay, Riggins said, to possibly save a life or two. She just hopes it’s not too late.
“I’m not a fan of the way (Gov.) Reynolds has handled this. I should have never had to cross the river to get tested. I have too many friends who are immunocompromised or cancer survivors,” she said.
Photos courtesy of Wendi Riggins
Wendi Riggins of Burlington has been diagnosed with COVID-19. She was tested in Illinois and is self-isolating with her family.