Table 4 Representative participant descriptions of functional impacts on daily activity from RSV

Getting out of bed

I would have to sit on the side of the bed for a while and then get my feet up and then sit upright in the bed for a while before I…It felt better when I leaned forward. It seems like I could, can breathe better when I’m leaning forward. It feels like my lungs could expand better

Yeah, I just forced myself to do it [get out of bed]

Self-care, meals, and usual activities

I can’t do anything. I can hardly make meals. I can’t get up the stairs. I have to crawl up the stairs now

I haven’t taken a shower since Saturday morning. It’s too much effort to get in the tub. I just lay in bed, so I’m not really dirty. But I brush my teeth, and I go to the bathroom. I don’t have any energy to stand up in the shower. I would like a bath; but once I get in there, it’s too hard to get out, so…

Leaving home

I can’t get to the grocery store. I can’t drive my car

I don’t want to leave the home. I really don’t want to go anywhere

Ability to concentrate

It was very foggy. I couldn’t concentrate on anything

It takes a lot to do stand-up [comedy]. And then you have to think, and I was messed up. I couldn’t even think of a good joke, you know

Using stairs

I can’t get up the stairs. I have to crawl up the stairs now

[Limited to] once or twice a day, and that’s it. It takes everything out of me to go up. A little less coming down, but I only go up twice

Missing work/school

Yes, I did [miss work]. I missed a few shows because I wasn’t able to do it. I was in bad shape

My doctor did write me out for the entire week this week…So I would say 2 weeks

Other daily activity/functional impacts

Yes, because I couldn’t exercise at all

I mean I kind of try to keep my engaging with other people to kind of a minimum [to avoid spreading RSV]