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Goa: Recovered Covid-19 patient avoids meeting pregnant wife
The man reached home on March 23, a day before the nationwide lockdown came into force. However, before entering his home he asked his wife to leave, and stay with her mother as a precautionary measure.
AA (he did not wish to reveal his name for fear of being stigmatised) is a relieved man. But the 35-year-old seafarers’ biggest relief isn’t that he has successfully recovered from the dreaded Covid19 disease but rather that he hasn’t passed on the infection to his pregnant wife, who is due to deliver any day now.
Working on board a cruiseliner off the coast of San Diego in United States of America, AA saw how the coronavirus was sweeping across the world and fearing that he might not be able to be by his wife’s side, choose to cut short his contract with the company and fly back home to Goa.
He reached home on March 23, a day before the nationwide lockdown came into force. However, before entering his home he asked his wife to leave, and stay with her mother as a precautionary measure.
His caution paid off: within three days of his arrival, he developed a body ache and a mild fever for which he took a paracetamol and rested. Since the symptoms persisted, he called the local health centre on March 27.
“I was familiar with them because they were calling me to check if I was developing symptoms. They immediately sent an ambulance and took me for a check up. But since my symptoms were mild they sent me home with some medication,” he said. His first Covid-19 test came negative, but he was advised to quarantine himself. On April 3, his second test came positive. An ambulance transported him to the special Covid-19 hospital in South Goa.
At the time, AA was living with three other family members; none of them tested positive for Covid-19.
AA wore a mask and kept a distance of two seats between him and the nearest passenger in the flight from USA to New Delhi. However, at the Delhi airport on March 23, he missed his connecting flight to Goa, and encountered a large crowd, due to which he could no longer maintain social distancing. The second flight too was crowded. He was among four patients of the seven found positive in Goa for the virus who developed only mild symptoms. At present, the state has declared itself a green zone with no positive cases; however, it has only tested 826 persons till date.
Having now recovered and discharged from hospital but kept at an isolation centre before he can be sent home, AA says it was his determination to stick to his regimen that helped him pull through.
“None of the doctors allowed anything but positive thoughts. We were welcomed like a family at the hospital made to feel comfortable and at no point were we made to feel like it was a hospital. The feeling was that we all including the doctors and staff are in this together,” he said, specifically mentioning the role played by Dr Edwin Gomes the doctor in-charge of the hospital.
“I never doubted that I would recover from this. The virus tries to look for a weakness that could either be a pre-existing condition, a recent operation or even a chilled drink that you may want to have,” he said.
AA believes there is a lot of misunderstanding around the virus and hopes to help dispel myths and let people know that there is nothing to be afraid of.
On April 12, his second test was negative and armed with a certificate to prove that he is virus-free, AA is looking forward to finally meeting his wife. He said that he would be present for the delivery of his child with a clear conscience.
