Covid 19: Adelaide nurse who caught Covid twice describes difference between Omicron and original strain

An Adelaide nurse has described how “lightning does strike the same place twice” after being struck down by Covid-19 again.

Sarah Crocker first caught the virus in early 2020 while on a flight home from London and the 25-year-old has tested positive again, only this time it’s likely she has the Omicron strain and it’s very different to the original variant.

Speaking to NCA NewsWire, Crocker, who is fully vaccinated, including her booster, said she caught the virus from her housemate while isolating at home.

“I have to do a rapid test before every shift at work, so when my housemate said she had developed symptoms, I made her do a rapid test before I left for work,” she said.

“It (her housemate’s test) came back positive, so that’s when I got tested as well, but it was negative. I then developed symptoms a few days later.”

She described how her symptoms were different this time around, likely because she has been vaccinated.

“I woke up Thursday with a sore throat, so I did a rapid test which came back negative, but I went to get a PCR test which came back positive,” she said.

“Thursday was my worst day. I felt really unwell, but otherwise it’s just been like a cold.”

It certainly wasn’t like that the first time Crocker caught Covid. She was bed-ridden for days then and said her entire body “felt fatigued”, compared to feeling “sleepy” this time.

“The thing that’s a lot different this time is probably my actual sleepiness, whereas last time I had general body fatigue.

“Otherwise, I have a bit of a sore throat, headaches and a slight cough. It’s just like a cold, so it’s a lot better than last time when I barely got out of bed and I was really breathless.”

She also had a fever last time, which she hasn’t experienced the second time around.

While some binge on Netflix and others clean the house from top to bottom, the South Australian has always found other ways to pass the time in isolation, including walking an ultra-marathon in her hotel room.

Crocker, who worked as a nurse at one of Adelaide’s busiest Covid testing sites, was forced to complete two weeks’ quarantine in South Australia after she was deployed to Melbourne’s most infectious hotspots during the height of its 2020 outbreak.

This time around she opted for a half-marathon in the driveway of her Adelaide home.

“We’ve also been watching a lot of Gossip Girl and I’ve slept a lot over the last few days, which is good to pass the time.

“I’ve been vaccinated now and (this time) doesn’t seem to be nearly as aggressive.

“Positive vibes and negative tests soon, hopefully.”

South Australia recorded 4506 cases on Sunday.