'This is it for me and my children': 3 coronavirus patients share their stories from quarantine
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- As more and more Americans contract the coronavirus, their stories from quarantine are piling up.
- We compiled accounts from three American coronavirus patients, including two who were exposed to the virus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise.
- The third, Tia Davis, had severe symptoms including a fever and breathing problems, and told her story over Facebook Live.
- View more episodes of Business Insider Today on Facebook.
Tia Davis of Hazel Crest, Illinois, started experiencing chills, headaches, a fever and breathing problems in early March. She tested positive for the coronavirus at the University of Chicago Hospital, and recorded a Facebook Live video as she recovered.
I started getting short of breath. So definitely does attack your respiratory system and it hits it hard. So I think like, that was one of the worst symptoms, because I woke up in the middle of the night and I was disoriented. I wasn't able to breathe.
I wasn't able to get anybody's attention. And I think at that point you started sitting down and having a conversation with yourself. Like, OK, this is it for me. This is it for me and my children. I won't ever see them again-type of thing. But I thank God that he was with me. Was able to wake him up, wake my husband up to let them know that something wasn't right.
When I first got here, they wasn't going to test me because I didn't fit the criteria. After some CAT scans and a couple of tests, they decided to go ahead and test me. And they came back and they told me that I tested positive.
My family is on 14-day quarantine. I haven't seen my children, haven't seen my husband in days now.
There is no treatment for coronavirus. So what they're treating is, they can treat a symptom. So if I have a fever, they could treat it with Tylenol. If I have a cough, they could treat you with cough medicine. But my body has to fight it off. So I have to take the time to rest, make sure that I'm trying to keep down as much food as I can and let my body do its job.
I've been here, I think I lost about 15 pounds, so I don't know what I'll be looking like when I get up out of here. I got to get my hair done y'all. Talk about my bonnet.
Everybody's making jokes about it. I don't take it personal. I think the only thing that kind of bothered me was to see myself on the news, to see my local news station speak of this situation but not even know wholeheartedly like what was going on.
It's a lot scarier when you see it on the TV or when you read about it than what it actually is. But I'm not going to sit up here and pretend like it's a joke. Definitely has taken me away from my family, gave me some breathing problems, and sat me down for a while to reevaluate myself and kind of, you know, my life. I know after this, you know, I want to get out and do more.
So just make sure that you guys are keeping your kids safe and you're keeping yourself safe as well. That's the best advice that I can give anybody. Just make sure to y'all are paying attention to your body. Your body will let you know when something's wrong, and if it's telling you something is wrong, then go ahead and get tested.
Carl Goldman, a 67-year-old from Santa Clarita, California, was one of more than 700 passengers and crew of the Diamond Princess cruise who tested positive for the coronavirus in February.
Unlike other colds and the flu that I had, there was no headache, no sneezing, no sniffles, no sore throat, no body aches, and even with that high fever, no chills and sweats that usually get that hot and cold.
Biocontainment was weird. I spent 10 days in there. I was hooked up to all kinds of monitors.
Anyone entering my biocontainment, it was like Neil Armstrong landing on the moon. They had full biocontainment suits on, three layers of gloves, a motor in their back to provide air, duct tape all around, sealing off anything that could possibly expose themselves.
But there was nothing they could give me other than ibuprofen and gallons and gallons of Gatorade. I kid that I had been through every flavor of the rainbow of Gatorade multiple amounts of times. The light blue is the bomb. Stay away from the grape. That's nasty.
We were out there, there was a lot of hate that came at us. There were some very elaborate death threats that mounted and got worse as the days progressed, as people learned that the State Department was going to allow us back to the States.
All along we were making lemonade out of lemons, looking at the glass half full, not half empty, living for the present, not worrying about the past, and also not focusing on the future because all of that was out of our control.
Stress is the biggest, biggest contributor to battling the immune system, and it's not good for the immune system. So keeping our stress level down was important.
Mark Jorgensen and his wife Jerri were two other passengers who contracted the virus aboard the Diamond Princess. Jerri only suffered mild symptoms, while Mark said he didn't show any symptoms at all.
I'm quite baffled as to why people are interested at all. I'm just this guy that's got a positive diagnosis with no symptoms stuck at home. But I guess people are fearful, and I'm sad about that. I think I'm proof that even if you catch the virus, you can be just fine.
It feels quite surreal to be part of this huge thing, actually. I step back, and realize that I see it on the news and it just dominates the headlines everywhere.
I am restricted to, obviously, inside the home. I'm not to be within 6 feet of my wife, and if we're in the same room, they want us wearing masks. I can't have any visitors. We can't sleep in the same bedroom or use the same bathrooms. So I'm in the basement, she's upstairs.