A Toronto man who likely contracted COVID-19 while vacationing in Miami says his symptoms were like no flu he ever experienced before, and urged Canadians to heed all calls for social distancing so the outbreak doesn’t break the healthcare system.

David Anzarouth told CP24 he returned to his Toronto home on March 11 after “doing a bit of partying” during a vacation in Miami, Florida.

“As soon as I returned home, I felt tired, sluggish and I had a bit of a headache,” he said.

He went to bed, planning to work from home on March 12.

He woke up the next morning feeling “exponentially worse.”

“I felt as though I was drugged,” he said.

Even still, he says he was able to work through the day from his couch.

He went to bed and that night woke up “drenched in a pool of sweat, shivering, with intense chills.”

“I felt like I was flattened, like a truck had hit me,” he said, adding his breathing became irregular and he had a headache “unlike anything I had ever felt.”

He said he fully expected to feel a bit rough after his vacation, but the symptoms he felt outshone anything he’d normally expect to feel when sick.

After some encouragement, Anzarouth said he went to the emergency room at Toronto General Hospital and was subjected to a battery of tests.

He was put in a “clean room” and later had doctors and nurses communicate with him through a sliding glass door at a distance of three to five metres away, wearing full protective gear.

They swabbed his nostril with a COVID-19 test and discharged him back to his home to self-isolate and recover.

He learned of his diagnosis sometime later.

The state of Florida had 299 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, with one of them being Miami’s mayor.

Miami is now under social distancing protocols to Toronto, with restaurants limited to take-out only and mass gatherings banned.

Anzarouth said that during his isolation, he had time to look online at people reacting appropriately to the widening pandemic, but also saw people who weren’t.

“There are people who might have it and just don’t know it. And they’re going out and they’re going to the supermarket and the mall and they’re going shopping,” he said. “We’re going to overwhelm the system if we continue to not practice safe social distancing to the fullest extent.”

He urged everyone to practice social distancing and stay home whenever possible.