My Husband Is West Virginia ’s First COVID-19 Patient. The State Almost Lost His Test Results

On March 17, Carolyn Vigil’s husband, James, became the first person in West Virginia to be diagnosed with COVID-19, meaning every U.S. state now has at least one confirmed case. Carolyn, who is 55 and now experiencing symptoms herself, spoke with TIME about the long road to getting James, 53, tested—and the even more circuitous path to getting his results. Their story began on March 12, when James awoke with what seemed like a bad cold. By the next day, his symptoms had worsened, and seemed consistent with what the couple had read about COVID-19, despite James having no clear link to a confirmed patient or a high-risk travel history. Carolyn now believes he contracted the virus during a weekend trip the couple took to Washington, D.C. the prior weekend. Here’s what happened next, according to Carolyn (what follows has been edited and condensed for clarity): We went to the ER, and I left James in the car. He was really sick: his fever had been as high as 104°F; he had a cough, terrible headaches, body aches. He has asthma, which can lead to more serious disease. I had no symptoms at that point, but I was trying to keep my distance from people at the hospital, because I thought I could be a carrier. A staff member met me at the door. She was very kind, but she said, ‘I don’t think we’re equipped to do this.’ A nurse came out to the car with a sticky note and the number for a hotline—which I had already tried to call, only t...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news