Claire Sweeney reveals she was hospitalised with coronavirus symptoms

Claire Sweeney revealed she hospitalised with coronavirus symptoms in December  after she experienced ‘breathing difficulties.’ 

The 49-year-old appeared on Loose Women on Tuesday from her home and discussed how she believed she had a severe bout of flu at first. 

She said: ‘On Christmas Eve, it hit me and I was due in pantomime, and I just plough through, never miss a show, but I was wiped off my feet.

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‘I felt like a bus had hit me. I had headaches, coughs, fever. Jaxon [her son, 5] got ill too, and I got sent home twice from the show. 

‘In the end, I went to a walk-in centre and they said they never heard lungs that bad on a non smoker and they took me straight to hospital.

‘I was a nebuliser to help with my breathing.’

Claire said she is keen to do an antibody test to know for sure and said they weren’t testing people for coronavirus at the end of last year. 

She said: ‘At the time I just thought I had a severe bout of flu. I was worried about [my son] Jaxon, I was very lucky because I was in Liverpool and had family around me.

‘It lasted a month as well, it took me a month to get better, normally if I’m sick I’m straight back to work, it was a bit scary you know.

‘Jaxon had a hacking cough and temperate I was very worried about him, It’s hard to see your kid ill.’

Claire has said the ordeal has made her want to address her work/home balance and in particular spend more time with Jaxon – whose father is her ex Daniel Reilly.

She said: ‘I’m a workaholic, I’ve always worked so hard. I was wondering if I should do panto next Christmas, or if I should just spend time with my boy.’ 

Claire admits her friends thought she was bonkers when she decided not to go on a planned trip to New York two weeks before lockdown,. 

She said: ‘I was due to go in March. And I remember the taxi pulling up outside and I wouldn’t go.

‘It was two weeks before the lockdown, and I had a feeling this is gonna get worse. I was very very cautious at the beginning.

‘I went into lockdown a week before the official lockdown, you start to get used to what’s going on around you.’

Claire said her friends thought she was acting a little bonkers, but she will be happy to prove them wrong. 

She said: ‘Everyone was laughing at me and all my pals thought I was bonkers, I still go out now, but it’ll be interesting to get it and realise I wasn’t being a drama queen.

‘I’ve been talking to a lot of people [who have had it] and they said the same, they said it wasn’t like a normal flu, so I think it’s been around a lot longer than we’ve been told.’

Claire said her son won’t be going back to school just yet but that decision was made by the school and not herself. 

She said: ‘He’s not going back, his school has decided not to let his age group back to school, it’s a double-edged swore I’m loving hanging out with him, the freedom, not going to work. 

‘That for me is a silver lining in all of this. Just the older pupils are going back to school. Jaxon is in reception.’ 

Claire said homeschooling her son hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park.

She said: ‘I’m rubbish! I’ve been doing phonics with him, mathematics, I’m numerically dyslexic!’