It is with mixed emotion that I write this. Part of me wants to tell the story and another part of me is afraid to. I think by sharing, people can get a sense of what the reality of this pandemic is and hopefully assuage fears about whether they have been “infected”. My son is the second positive on Marco. He is 29 years young, healthy, active, has no underlying medical conditions, doesn’t smoke, and exercises regularly. He is a full time Marco resident. It took 3 phone calls to the Florida Department of Health and 3 phone calls to his physician to get him tested. He did not meet the “criteria” because of the aforementioned description and because he hadn’t travel internationally. He was in NYC for business 2 1/2 weeks ago with colleagues from London (who returned to London and became ill) and this still didn’t qualify him for testing. His physician ordered the test after the third phone call when it was apparent NYC was a hotspot. The test was done at a drive through last Monday and the results were given to him this past Friday. His symptoms began as a typical cold - congestion, headache, body aches, fatigue. This lasted a few days and then he felt fine for a couple of days. The third day he began to feel worse than he did the first time around. Extreme fatigue, headache, dizziness, intermittent nausea, low grade fever, and the “feeling of being hit by a truck”. No cough, no sore throat, no shortness of breath, no chest tightness. It’s been a full 2 weeks and yesterday and today are the first days he has felt decent. Rest assured, he has not left the house in 3 weeks. His wife is employed by a non essential business on Marco whose responsible, intelligent owner had already voluntarily shut down so she too has been in. Had her employer stayed open, she would have unknowingly been carrying germs to her workplace. I have been advocating for non essential businesses to close for weeks; well before my son was diagnosed. The reality is that this is everywhere and the only way to stop the spread is to stay in. I had flu like symptoms before my son ever left for NYC but wasn’t eligible for testing until he came back positive. My test is Monday. My husband is not eligible for testing even though he has had close contact because he doesn’t have symptoms. It has been a frustrating couple of weeks. How can we possibly know the numbers when it is so difficult to get tested? How many of us have had a cold or the flu in the past month? How many of us were tested? As a nurse, I have a basic understanding of epidemiology and immediately self isolated my family. I believe there are many people out there who are positive but don’t know it because they don’t meet the criteria for testing. The symptoms vary, the severity varies, Covid doesn’t discriminate. Had my son not pushed for testing, it would not have gotten done. He would have waited until he felt better and gone right back into the community. It’s a scary thought to think of whom he could have passed this on to in that case. I hope this brings peace to those of you worried you were in contact with him and I hope it makes those who think they aren’t susceptible and still gathering with others realize how unsafe it truly is. I would be happy to answer questions and welcome prayers for my family but kindly ask that you keep any negative comments to yourself.