COVID-19 put this Calgary man in a 25-day coma and he's now cringing at sights of large gatherings

A Calgary man who spent 47 days in hospital after getting COVID-19 25 of those days in a coma says he can't help but watch nervouslyat scenesof large public gatheringslike the past week'sprotests against racism and police brutality.

That occasion was aBlack Lives Matter vigil in Olympic Plaza in Calgary's downtown coreon Saturday afternoon that attracted thousands of people, as have multiple demonstrations held earlier in the weekin solidarity with widespread protests throughoutthe United States and around the world.

Jay Chowdhury says his blood pressure is rising as he watches the Alberta government and the city cautiously ease restrictions imposed due to the pandemic in part because a COVID-19 carrier might, like him, have no clue they're even carrying it.

"That is what's scary: people are gathering. Maybe people are positive but there may be no signs or symptoms," Chowdhury told the Calgary Eyeopeneron Monday.

Chowdhury contracted COVID-19 very early on inthe pandemic's spread inAlberta, while at a religious gathering.

He says he was symptom-free for five days and then things went completely sideways.

"I was just like a normal person. I went to work. I was meeting people. I had no clue I was COVID-19-positive," Chowdhury said.

But then the symptoms came down hard. Assoon as he got to hospital, he passed out on a stretcher and that's all he remembers for more than three weeks.

"I woke up on Day 25 and I had no clue what happened."

He had been in a medicallyinduced coma and on a ventilator for that time.

But that was only part of Chowdhury's problems.

• Hear more asJay Chowdhurydescribes how he feels watching large gatherings after being in hospital for 47 days when he caught COVID-19, in the audio file below.

His wife, a health-care worker, had also tested positive. So had all three of their children.

Because of the age of their youngest, his wife decided she was not going to leave their children's side atany cost.

When paramedics wanted to rush her to hospital, Chowdhury said, she told them:"If I have to die, I have to die with my kids, rather than just locking them up at home."

Chowdhury believes he caught COVID-19 along with 28 other people at the prayer meeting from a pastor visiting from another country.

"We were not in very close contact with each other: we were sitting apart," Chowdhury said of the pastor.

"COVID is a serious thing."

• Watch as Jay Chowdhury describes his experience being one of the first Calgariansto be hospitalized with COVID-19, in the video file below.

Like other provinces, Alberta has been slowing reopening its economy in phase 1 and easing restrictions imposed after the pandemic began.

However, after celebrating the lowest daily number of new cases since early on in the pandemic in mid-March on Friday,the number of newCOVID-19 cases in Albertajumped back to double digits on Saturday. The province reported 40 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday with 19 in Edmonton and 15 in Calgary while the totalnumber of deaths remainedat 146 andthe number of people in the hospital remained at 44. As of Saturday, 6,656 Albertans had recovered from COVID-19.

The province had said it wouldoffer more details early next week about Stage 2 of its relaunch plan.

Alberta officials were considering movingsports, fitness and recreation facilities into Stage 2 from Stage 3, allowing them to open much sooner than expected.

The province was scheduled to give another update on Monday afternoon.

Chowdhury says he understands Calgarians' desireto get out from under self-isolation.

"For some people, they have never ever stayed home like this. For day after day, month after month. They are getting tired. Some are saying, 'If it is going to happen to me, it's going to happen to me.' I don't think that is the right statement," Chowdhury said.

Chowdhury points out that another man who got COVID-19 at that prayer meeting wasn't as lucky if you can call it that as he was.

"He fought for only four days and died."

• With files from the Calgary Eyeopener