It was an inauspicious start for new Greene County Recorder Deb McDonald. 

McDonald had just been appointed as the recorder for Marcia Tasler, who retired on October 30th. Then she had to close the recorder’s office November 2nd-4th because she had tested positive for COVID-19. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio her symptoms were mild with a runny nose and a cough, which she thought was just allergies. However, McDonald quickly realized that this was something more.

“Twenty-four-hours after those symptoms started, I felt like I had been hit by a freight train. My body ached so bad, I can’t even describe it. I literally had to crawl on my hands and knees up the steps to get to bed. The pain was unbearable. When I got to the top of the steps, I had to just sit and catch my breath before I could continue further to get into bed.”

McDonald says now that she’s 3 ½ weeks post-onset of symptoms, she continues to feel exhaustion, runny nose, itchy eyes and headaches. McDonald says she was skeptical back in March of wearing a mask, but now that she’s experienced this virus firsthand, her attitude has changed.

“I think that it is so important that everybody wears their mask to stop the spread. And I know that that’s getting beat into everybody’s mind right now. Being on both sides of it, I now just strongly feel, wear your mask.”

However, McDonald also made history as the first county elected official to be sworn in via Zoom on Monday, November 2nd, while she was home.