STL woman spends more than 150 days in hospital with COVID

By Gabriela Vidal

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    ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — Laquanachae Moore says it could be six months before she finally can speak normally again.

“I had a trache in. My voice [isn’t] all the way back yet,” said Moore.

The 30-year-old’s raspy voice comes after months of fighting for her life after she first contracted COVID-19 in late December 2021.

“It got worse on January 10. I couldn’t breathe, barely. I couldn’t get up and walk anywhere, so I was really down. So, my sister took me to the emergency room,” said Moore. “I remember getting admitted and going to the ICU. After that nothing.”

Moore was intubated and put in a medically induced coma from January to March.

“I missed months. I missed my son’s birthday, like it was insane,” said Moore.

Upon waking up, she found her battle was still not over.

“I was still critical. I was on a ventilator. I couldn’t’ talk at all because I had the [Tracheostomy]. And I had a feeding tube,” she said. “I almost died a couple of times.”

On June 1, after spending more than 150 days in Mercy Hospital South, nurses and doctors celebrated Moore as she finally got to go home.

Her homecoming is at a time when the St. Louis metro is seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases. The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported earlier this week COVID-19 hospitalizations in the region have doubled in less than a month.

“It’s also led to increased numbers of people in the hospital. We’re probably about three times our lowest point in last spring,” said BJC Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Clay Dunagan, who also leads the task force.

Dunagan anticipates COVID-19 numbers will begin to decline in the coming weeks but he stresses the importance for people to get vaccinated, wear masks and avoid crowded indoor areas.

“I was gonna get vaccinated but I caught Covid first,” said Moore.

Moore explained the reason she did not get vaccinated sooner was because she spent most of her time at home, and she was not concerned about a threat. She still is not sure how she may have gotten the virus.

“Get vaccinated if you can because there’s a lot of people in the hospital now who is not making it like I did, and it’s sad to hear,” she said.

While Moore may get her voice back, she says she will now have to live with other lifelong hurdles, from having asthma permanently to having to be more cautious around other people while she recovers.

“I can’t be around a lot of people,” said Moore. “If I do, I can get a respiratory infection. And, yeah, it might kill me that time. I might be right back in the hospital.”

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