As of the latest update from the Department of Health, Virginia has 114 confirmed cases of COVID-19. One of those patients is Joseph Papa. He and his husband have tested positive for the virus and are now quarantined at home in Richmond.
Papa: It really just for both of us feels like a cold, a bad cold or flu, an extreme version of either. But we're hanging in there.
Noe-Payne: When did you first start to have symptoms and when that happened, how did you respond? What did you do?
Papa: My husband started experiencing symptoms first about a week ago. Had a fever, had all the telltale signs. In that same day an article had come out that somebody in his New York office building, where he'd been the week prior, tested positive. So we called our doctor, told him what was going on and they suggested that we come in and get tested. We were tested for the flu first and that was negative, and then we were tested for COVID.
Noe-Payne: So you are able to get tested at your primary care doctor. What directions did they give you while you waited for results?
Papa: We were just told to essentially presume positive, just to be safe, and to self quarantine, drink a lot of water, treat the fever, and he said we might not feel hungry but to keep eating and to just get some rest.
"Prepare to show kindness and to help others where you can, and to receive help if you get it."
Noe-Payne: When you found out that you both tested positive, who followed up with you, what officials, and what questions did they have for you guys?
Noe-Payne: Well the doctor called to let us know first and to make sure that we weren't experiencing any respiratory problems. The health department called the following day. They had very thorough questions. They wanted to know what our symptoms were and then we had to give a pretty detailed accounting of everywhere we'd been. And people we'd seen since showing symptoms. Which was a small list, thankfully. We saw a lot of people when we did not have symptoms. But they wanted to get a sense of our whereabouts so that they could contact places if necessary. And we had already contacted a lot of those places, just to let them know that we had tested positive and to give them a heads up.
Noe-Payne: Looking back at the past couple of weeks and how things have progressed so quickly, what message do you have for people around the state?
Papa: Well I think that aside from following the guidelines that are being put out there to stay put, and wash your hands, and cough into your arm -- is to know that this thing is here. The virus is here. And it's not a hoax and it's in our community. My husband and I didn't bring it here, it's here. And you're going to know people with it, and prepare to show kindness and to help others where you can, and to receive help if you get it.
I mean that's kind of a lesson for us too. Having to accept groceries dropped off on our porch and to let people do things for us is a strange feeling, because we're both young and active and, you know, it feels silly not to run to the grocery store. But we should stay put. And we are until we're told otherwise.
