N.J. coronavirus patient says symptoms are getting worse despite hospitalization, report says
The Fort Lee man who contracted the coronavirus is urging people to take COVID-19 seriously, telling television stations that his symptoms keep getting worse despite the fact that he is a pretty healthy person.
“They are surprised it can be so bad and I’m so young," James Cai, 32, a physician’s assistant, told ABC7.
He told the station that he believes he contracted the virus at a medical meeting at the Westin Hotel in Times Square. When he felt sick a few days later he went to urgent care and then to the emergency room, where medical staff found a small lesion on his lung and tested him for coronavirus, he told ABC7.
Health officials have said that older individuals and those with chronic medical conditions like heart disease and diabetes are at highest risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19.
But Cai told CBS he doesn’t have any risk factors and his symptoms, including fever, shortness of breath and diarrhea are “getting worse” and Hackensack University Medical Center has a bed in the ICU ready in case he needs it. He said hospital staff told him he should be OK, ABC reported.
The first person to die from coronavirus in New Jersey was a 69-year-old man from Bergen County whom officials said had pre-existing health conditions. The total number of positive cases in the state increased to 15 Tuesday, and there were 20 pending tests at the state lab with another 31 people considered under investigation, New Jersey Department of Health officials said.
https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/nj-coronavirus-patient-says-symptoms-getting-worse-despite-hospitalization-report-says.html?utm_content=nj_facebook_njcom&utm_campaign=njcom_sf&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR1BsCYWN_9oacmm-CBJEd2ivVZSBdWrhgcrCOZ9ecDyH0RLbXPL5jRdkL0
