The France international said she “freaked out” during an 11-day stint suffering the effects of Covid-19, but she has now made a full recovery
Arsenal Women goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin says she was “frightened” but has recovered after contracting coronavirus.
The France international is the second person at Arsenal confirmed to have had the virus, following men’s manager Mikel Arteta.
The 28-year-old, capped four times for her country, confirmed the news in a video posted to the Instagram account of former France player Elodie Thomis.
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Peyraud-Magnin says she first suffered symptoms on March 16, four days after returning to London from Lyon where she had been playing for France in an international tournament.
She said: “I was still frightened. All the doctors I had told me that I had contracted Covid-19.
“I had a lot of symptoms related to this virus: fever, cold, constant headache, respiratory discomfort, immense fatigue and loss of taste and smell. I checked a lot of boxes.
“My mother told me that I had the symptoms of coronavirus, and I’m starting to really be afraid. The difficulty in breathing followed. There, I really freaked out because it was stressful, the stress causes hyper ventilation and so on.
“Trying to phone people or say things, I couldn’t do it and it caused fatigue like I never had. It put me to bed. It’s been 11 days since I have been out of my house at all. Otherwise it’s better.”
Peyraud-Magnin ended her message by thanking the nurses who looked after her, and urged people to follow official advice about combating the spread of coronavirus.
“I would like to give a big thumbs up to the whole medical profession,” she said.
Arteta was the first major figure in English football to be officially diagnosed with coronavirus. He was confirmed to have contracted Covid-19 on March 13 and the squad was subsequently sent into isolation amid the pandemic.
He has made a full recovery, but said he was worried for his family following his diagnosis.
He said: “It’s true I started having some symptoms when we got the phone call from the club to let us know that we might be exposed to the virus because of the owner of Olympiacos and in that moment, I don’t know, I felt something within me, that I had it.
“Then you realise: ‘Wow, everybody can be exposed here, this is very serious’ and you start to think about the people that you’ve been in contact with and the other people that can be related to us. That’s when a bit of fear comes.
“In terms of symptoms, it was a normal virus for me. I had three or four days which were a little bit difficult, with a bit of a temperature and a dry cough, and some discomfort in my chest. That was it.
“The difficulty is that I have people at home, three kids as well and I was worried. My missus has been through it and my nanny’s been through it. Thank God, the kids never got it. We are all completely fine now.”