Austin police officer back on duty after recovering from COVID-19

AUSTIN, Texas - One Austin police officer recently recovered from COVID-19 and is back on duty as a patrol officer.

Now he is sharing his story to hopefully help others who are going through something similar. “I love my job. I love what I do and being gone for three weeks was really hard,” said Officer Ross Pranter.

It's been 21 days since Pranter has been able to get back to work as a patrol officer for APD. “It feels good. It feels good to be back,” he said.

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Pranter was quarantined for having COVID-19 for three weeks. He can recall when it all started late last month. “On March 27th, I woke up without taste or smell,” he said, adding that he thought it was just his allergies and did not think it was COVID-19.

“[Allergies] have happened to me before so I came into work, I was training a new officer,” he said. As the day went on, something just didn’t sit well with him so he told his supervisor who immediately sent him and anyone he had contact with him.

Pranter was tested and a few days later, he was notified that he tested positive for COVID-19. He says he spent the next three weeks fighting off the virus in quarantine.

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He says he didn't have your typical symptoms like a fever and a cough. “My symptoms quickly became more severe. I had nausea, restlessness, along with fatigue. I got the jitters and my hands and my feet and shortness of breath at times and then tightness in my chest was pretty reoccurring,” he said.

He says his symptoms came in waves and we worked hard to get better. “I was able to convince myself that I'm going to recover, I'm going to be okay, and that's when all of the symptoms would kind of subside,” said Pranter. The symptoms did subside after 21 days in quarantine.

Pranter is back on the job and healthy. He hopes sharing his story helps others going through a similar battle. “The statistics are in our favor. There is hope for those who are currently battling it. We were going to get through this,” he said.

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