Nurse with coronavirus says symptoms started out 'super mild'

A US nurse who tested positive for the coronavirus says the situation escalated quickly from what she originally thought was "a bout of the sniffles".

"That's it, it was super mild," Lisa Merck, 50, explains in a video uploaded to her Facebook page.

Merck was travelling home to Colorado from Hawaii, where she had attended a medical conference then holidayed with her husband, when she starting felling unwell.

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She began experiencing aches on the left side of her body and her neck started to hurt. recalling: "I didn't really think anything of it, just from travelling and stuff like that."

Merck says after she got back her muscles, bones and joints started to ache badly.

"I felt really nauseous, my bones and my body ached," she recalls, describing her symptoms as "like someone was stabbing my muscles with an ice pick".

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Assuming she the flu, Merck tested herself for Influenza A and B. When both came back negative she went about her normal day-today life, including running and completing errands.

She eventually called the public health line to see if she should get tested for COVID-19 after developing a fever that left her bedridden for three days.

"We didn't have any exposure or anything like that, so we didn't meet criteria," she continues.

When her health deteriorated a couple of days later, Merck asked her husband to take her to the hospital, where she tested positive for the coronavirus.

Since her diagnosis, both Merck and her husband have been in quarantine in their home, treating it as a normal flu.

"Wash your hands," she urges viewers.

"If you have any known exposure to anyone let them know. I definitely feel like i'm on the mend for sure."