Ottawa Senators associate coach Jack Capuano is back with the club and feeling a lot better than he was 10 days ago when he was in the midst of a battle with COVID-19.

Despite being double-vaccinated, Capuano’s experience with COVID-19 sent him to an Ottawa hospital’s emergency department because he was dehydrated with a fever he couldn’t shake.

“If you do get it, and you start to get certain symptoms with your chest and your lungs, that’s a situation you cannot ignore and you have to see a doctor. You have to have an awareness and I’m hoping at this thing, at some point, with all the medicine we have can eliminate the hospitalizations and the symptoms people go through.”

Capuano, 55, said prior to testing positive he, “Felt like I was untouchable.”

“I felt like I was in pretty good shape, you feel like you’re taking care of yourself, and you’re double-vaccinated and it can’t happen to me. Well, you know what? It did and it’s something we have to take seriously.”

While the associate coach was hit hard by COVID-19, head coach D.J. Smith said the side effects for Capuano were much worse than 10 players that ended up in protocol.

“I had a fever of 103 degrees for almost four days.” Capuano said, “A wicked headache and I couldn’t shake it. The fever was what did me in. You just didn’t know when it was going to go away. You’re taking Tylenol, Advil and you’re doing everything you’re supposed to do, but it just wouldn’t go away. The struggle for me was the headache and the fever, and it’s just amazing because I woke up one day and, all of a sudden, my fever never went over 100.”

Capuano’s wife also tested positive, and despite not having severe symptoms like her husband and Capuano now feeling much better, the two are still dealing with the aftermath of testing positive for COVID-19.

“I still don’t have a sense of taste or smell and neither does my wife,” said Capuano. “I can tell you that the fatigue, that is the one thing people will tell you is that you’re not going to believe how tired you are. Even being back here, I could have went on the ice (Saturday) but my body, it ached a little bit and you feel like you don’t have the strength.”

The Senators, who had games against the New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators and New York Rangers postponed, returned to game action on Monday against the Colorado Avalanche in the first of a four-game road trip.