The Grayson County sheriff contracted COVID-19, and he had advice for others, according to his Facebook page.
Sheriff Norman Chaffins, a law enforcement veteran of over 20 years, detailed the hardship he has faced after he, his wife Lauren and his son Greyson tested positive for the virus, leaving him with severe symptoms.
"On Monday, I lost my sense of taste and smell and developed a severe headache ... a severe headache that stayed with me until today," Chaffins said Sunday.
He said the three of them got tested last Monday and received the positive results Wednesday. He and his family went to Wyoming and Montana in an RV. Those states currently have the second and third-fewest cases of COVID-19 in the United States. Because of the 14-day incubation period, Chaffins said it's likely the family contracted it while they were traveling.
Chaffins said the family had less contact with people during the trip than they usually have during their normal day-to-day activities in Grayson County.
"We maintained our distance as much as we could, but did not always wear a mask," he said. "I am now paying the price."
When they got back, Chaffins said he had a low-grade fever, but that was normal for him when returning from a trip with a significant altitude change. His wife and son had no symptoms at the time, he said. His son developed a cough while at a friend's house. They picked him back up and the other family was notified when they tested positive, he said.
"One thing that is worse than battling the virus is battling the heaviness of the burden that we could have infected someone else," he said.
Chaffins said his symptoms kept getting worse.
"By late Wednesday morning, my symptoms were fever 100.3-100.9, severe headache, earache, intense stomach pain, nausea, bone and joint pain, cough, sore throat, severe knee pain and inability to sleep," Chaffins said. "I started vomiting on Saturday. Each day after first diagnosis the symptoms intensified. Since Monday the 6th, I have not slept for more than two hours intermittently per day."
Chaffins said that he hallucinated Friday, and he knew it wasn't a dream because he wasn't able to sleep long enough to have a nightmare.
He said COVID-19 has been the worst ailment he's experienced, which includes the flu, the mumps, chickenpox, measles, a broken neck and a total knee replacement.
"There is no comparison," he said. "Nothing that i know of or have ever experienced compares to it."
Chaffins said his department is not going to fine people in Grayson County for not wearing a mask. But that doesn't mean he won't tell people to do so anyway.
"I'm telling you this because I want you to wear your mask. Not because I am the sheriff, not because the governor said so, and not because the business tells you to," he said. "I want you to wear a mask because I do not want ANYONE to have to go through what I went through."
