Prince Albert of Monaco was the first royal to contract the coronavirus, or at least he was the first to confirm it publicly. Albert went into isolation in the royal palace in Monte Carlo on March 19th. He did not leave isolation until March 31st, so… 13 days? Maybe he started isolating on the 18th, which would make it an even two weeks. Albert said at the time that he felt like he had a mild case, and people seemed more interested in figuring out who he could have infected when he was in London more than a week prior to his positive test. In any case, yes, Albert is out of isolation and he and Prince Charles – two men over the age 60 – both seemed to have the most mild version of the virus.
It has been announced that Prince Albert II has recovered from COVID-19 and will stop isolating and re-join his family. Monaco’s royal palace confirmed the news on Tuesday, in a statement that read: “Doctors who have followed Prince Albert II since the start of his COVID-19 infection today allow him to end his quarantine period. The sovereign prince is declared cured and in good health.”
It continued: “He will soon join his family and continue to observe the period of confinement while remaining in close contact with his government. His Highness once again reminds the people of Monaco of the importance of scrupulously respecting confinement measures and limiting contact with others. Rigorous compliance with these rules will help stop the spread of coronavirus.”
On 19 March it was revealed that the royal had tested positive for COVID-19, and just days later, Albert’s aides thanked his supporters for their well wishes in a second statement, saying: “His Serene Highness Prince Albert has been moved by all the good wishes he has received from all around the world. HSH wants to thank all the people that have sent him their support. The Sovereign Prince remains confined in his apartments inside the Palace. He is still working with his close collaborators in accordance with the health measures. His health, controlled several times during the day by his doctors, doesn’t inspire any concern.” Prince Albert added: “Patience, trust, courage, solidarity.”
The prince also spoke of his symptoms shortly after news was announced of his illness. “My symptoms are flu-like, but it feels like a pretty mild case,” he told People. “I’ve a slight fever, not really that bad. A little bit of a cough. I’d a runny nose the first few days that was the first sign. I’ve felt a little stuffed up but that’s it. I have be careful because of my recent medical history fighting off pneumonia a couple of years ago.”
I included that old statement from Albert because I wanted to talk about the mild cases of coronavirus for a moment. In early March, I felt like I had the start of a mild cold. I took Tylenol Cold & Flu pills or low-dose Sudafed for about four or five days, plus I dosed myself with Nyquil for about five nights. And it was gone. I never had any strong cold symptoms and maybe it was just seasonal allergies to begin with, but my symptoms were similar to Albert – runny nose, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, really tired. And then whatever it was just disappeared with over-the-counter medicine and lots of liquids and sleep. Do you think it was the ‘rona? I still don’t know. I’m still isolating, obviously, because I don’t want to find out two weeks from now that actually that was just seasonal stuff and now I have the virus for-real. But it definitely feels like a lot of people just had a few days of cold-like symptoms in the past month (like Albert) and they still don’t know if they just had a mild case of the virus, because their symptoms went away after less than a week and tests were not widely available.
Anyway, it sounds like Albert really is recovered and I still find it interesting, I guess, that there was zero talk of Princess Charlene. Everyone in Monaco simply accepts that Albert and Charlene live separate lives and that there was NO WAY he could have exposed her at any time.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
I had a sore throat and stuffy nose for about 2 weeks in mid-late March – didn’t meet the testing criteria but I do wonder what it was, I”ve never had a sore throat for 2 weeks straight before. I’ve been self isolating since symptoms started but who knows? maybe just a lingering cold, maybe the ‘rona…
I think runny nose is usually seasonal allergies…but I dont know. I know I usually start feeling the effects of pollen in late February, early March, but I am off the charts allergic to pollen. It’s the reason I had to leave Atlanta. PSA to other allergy sufferers, dont ever move or visit Atlanta in February-May if you have springtime allergies.
The reports here on TV in early March were basically saying that if you had a stuffy nose / runny nose but didn’t have a fever, then it probably wasn’t the virus. (Not sure if that’s actually true, but that’s what they were telling us.) I guess they wanted to ensure that people didn’t rush out to get tested if it was just allergies or a regular head cold, because there’s no way there would have been enough kits to check everyone.
Our health guides in Canada list sore throat, dry cough and fever as the big 3 to watch for. They say some may have other symptoms but that generally speaking the runny nose wouldn’t be a sign (as I understand it –
although they do say that in some cases other symptoms have appeared – including feeling faint, diarrhea). The issue, though, it seems, is if you have a different cold (or flu or cough – like bronchitis) then you are already in a weakened state and it would be harder for you to fight covid19 if you caught it.
I had both allergies, and a cold, in the beginning of March, and I am in a hard-hit area, but I still think that’s all it was. No one else I was with got it, no fever.
This awful virus hit at the end of flu season and beginning of allergy season, I think that unfortunate timing led to a lot of spread.
I’m happy to hear of anyone who has recovered.
I have had a dry cough (only lingering now, but virulent for weeks) since mid-February. Hardly any nasal congestion. I also had a horrible sore throat for 2 weeks straight (never had one that long either @OriginalLala). I hardly slept for weeks while I coughed all night. I even went to an urgent care one morning (just as the COVID thing had begun to appear in the US) – no fever, lungs ok – they kindly gave me some codeine to help me sleep. It’s mostly gone now, but I still get a coughing fit every once in a while. Usually I knock out a cold in less than a week. I wonder if I had it? Who knows?
the 2 week sore throat is what was worrying to me as well! I had a few colleagues who had the same symptom, but without fever or cough we couldn’t get tested. Thankfully our workplace closed down almost 4 weeks ago so even if it was the virus we were already all home and self isolating when symptoms started…
I know. Usually a sore throat is the sign you are getting a cold – once the coughing and sniffling start it retreats. This just kept getting worse. I thought it was going away one day and it roared back again the next. I began it all in February when COVID was supposedly still in China and in one nursing home in Washington. If it had begun in March I probably would have been more alarmed.
My daughter had a fever for 6 days in early March. She tested negative for flu and strep. Sometimes I think she had it, but I’m pretty sure it would have gone through our whole house if it was corona. We individually had colds, sore throats etc, but I don’t think we had corona since she was the only one with a fever. I would really, really love for someone to solve the mystery of why, irrespective of age or underlying health conditions, some people get mild cases and some people get hit hard. Are different strains causing different symptoms or do some people have an acquired immunity?
A household here all got it, and they all had different symptoms. It’s bizarre.
I think if they eventually develop antibody testing and it is widespread, a LOT of people are going to find out that bad cold or flu they had was it, or that they were asymptomatic and never knew.
I’ve had similar symptoms but it all went away. I think eventually when the vaccine is out, we will all find out if we have been immune to the virus or not. We will see. Just stay safe ladies. 🤎
I wish like hell we could get antibody testing to see if we had it.
Stupid fkn tRump.
I think my brother had the virus in February and didn’t know. He had a really high fever, breathing issues, dry cough and lost his appetite. He said it was the sickest he’d ever been and it last a few weeks. The doctors told him it was respiratory infection and looking back I’m thinking it was the virus.
I had this at the end of Feb, minus the high fever (I maybe had a mild one), and the doctor said the same thing to me, “it’s just a respiratory infection, you’re fine.”
I am a person with a metric ton of allergies and my symptoms were/are not close to allergic reactions. After 10 days I have just been cleared by my Dr. to walk the neighborhood when it’s basically deserted and just hearing that felt like victory. Last week I had the worst chills/sweats of my life, dry coughs that were sometimes uncontrollable, SEVERE body aches, shallow breathing – winded over the tiniest damn thing and really weak. Breathing is work, even when you are just sitting around. It feels like your lungs are 10% of what they were before. Now I have it to a much lesser extent. I had stockpiled anti-viral supplements and a traditional Chinese Medicine formula for lung congestion, and those 2 things came up really big for me.