04.27.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
April 27, 2020
Live Stream - Live with the County of Santa Clara
10am PT

Larry Little: Hi everybody and thank you for joining us. I'm Larry Little, Public Information Officer here at the county's Emergency Operations Center. This morning I'm joined by my friend and colleague Ricardo Romero Morales. Later in this program he will share his personal recovery story after battling with COVID-19 for several weeks.

But first we want to remind you that safety is a priority for us here at the EOC even in this studio we are practicing social distancing and our crew members behind the camera are wearing facial coverings. Ricardo and I have removed our facial coverings so the American sign language interpreters can properly communicate the information that we will share with you today. Also, we want to let you know that you can stay in the know on COVID-19 as it relates to the County of Santa Clara by checking out the data dashboard on the county's Public Health website and just to give you an update, as of today, 2105 confirmed cases in the county and 107 deaths. In the USA alone, nearly 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nearly 50,000 deaths. Our thoughts are with the families who have lost loved ones due to COVID-19 and we are hoping for speedy recovery for everyone who is currently suffering from this virus.

Ricardo knows firsthand what it's like to deal with COVID-19.  He suffered from the virus in early March and he joins us today to tell his story.  Thanks for being here. So, let's just dive right into it. What happened?

Ricardo Romero-Morales: Thank you. Thank you, Larry, and thank you everyone who's watching. First of all, before we begin, I do want to say that this is my personal story. Your story might be different than mine.  Somebody else might have experienced different symptoms than I did but yeah so this is how I went through it. I remember it was a Tuesday, it was a Tuesday afternoon when I started to feel a little bit out of it. I was feeling fatigued and it did cross my mind at that point whether I had contracted the virus.

But I didn't have any other symptoms so then I just brushed it off. Then the following day, Wednesday, I was back to normal. I was productive at work, I was able to accomplish so much, and I was feeling great.

But then the following day, on Thursday, that's when I started to have a mild cough. I got to work around 8 a.m. and by 10 a.m., I just knew there was something wrong with me.  And I saved all my work and I informed my supervisor that I was heading home because I wasn't feeling well. As soon as I got home, my roommates were home and they saw me and they knew that there was something wrong because I was home early and they asked me if I was feeling okay.

And at that point that's when I said I think I need to isolate myself at this point. I went into my room and in a matter of minutes the symptoms started to escalate. By noon, I was on the phone with my doctor with fever and the cough started to get a little bit more stronger and it was a dry cough definitely. My doctor then instructed me to stay home, to stay in isolation for 14 days, and I was just like oh I never thought that it was going to be me that I was going to go through this myself. You know working here at the Public Health Department and working at the Emergency Operation Center, I never thought it was going to be me, to be honest.

LL: So, talk about some of the symptoms that you had?

RRM: Yeah, so, like I mentioned it started with a very low energy, started to feel fatigued, and then the mild cough started, and in a matter of minutes I had fever. During day five, actually, that's when I was having difficulty breathing and I ended up in the hospital that day.  I was there the entire day, doctors were taking precautions, everybody in the hospital. And I remember I passed out twice while I was there but then they said that it was best for me to go home and just continue to be isolated and staying in the hospital.

LL: So, talk about your breathing did you have problems breathing?

RRM: That one day, yes. I woke up with chest pain and every time I took a deep breath, it was almost like a stabbing type of pain.

LL: So, you talk about self-isolation and you have roommates at the time. How did you maneuver around having roommates and having COVID-19?

RRM: So, when I when all this pandemic started, I had a conversation with my roommate and we developed a plan. I was supposed to be the one taking care of everybody but it was me who got sick.
But we did create a plan where if somebody was sick, it was going to stay in one of the rooms that had a bathroom and was and everybody else were to disinfect all of the areas that I touched everything and somebody else was going to be bringing the food to that person at the door.  So, those are the steps that we took home.

LL: So, let's be honest because you know, I'll be honest. Initially, I was like oh I can't get this. This is not gonna happen to me did you think that?

RRM: Yeah, of course! You know one, because I was taking all the percussions I was making sure that I was staying and I was coughing into my arm, into my sleeve.  I also was making sure that I wasn't touching anything that somebody else had touched, we use a lot of disinfectant and everything.  And you know I'm healthy I exercise every day, I try to eat healthy as well so to your point I had no idea this was coming for me.

LL: And you're young and let's not leave that out.

RRM: Yeah.

LL: So also, what were some of your fears, you know we've heard the stories on different ends of the spectrum where from death to full recovery in the symptoms were very, well some people don't have symptoms at all. What were your fears during this time?

RRM: So, when I was at the hospital the doctors at this point said it is highly likely you do have COVID but even though you're not feeling well or that you're feeling like you're dying at this point this is actually very mild compared to other people who have actually passed away from the virus but even the mild symptoms for me were what I can tell you is like this is the worst I've been sick in my entire life and
I've never experienced it felt that way before. And some of the fears that I had at that point where being in isolation it was some of the negative thoughts that crossed my mind were what happens if I die? What happens if I get worse and I'm here in my room, alone. Nobody is gonna be there for me.

The day that I went to the hospital, I had to drive myself to the hospital. Because I didn't want to expose anybody else but it's that feeling of not being able to interact with anybody.

LL: How long were you in self-isolation?

RRM: So, I went for the first 14 days, and after those 14 days, I stayed home seven days, and after those seven days they asked me to stay an extra three days just to make sure that nobody else was going to be exposed and being able to fully recover and come out of my room and not expose my roommates as well.

LL: So, this has to be very tough you know calling your family and explaining this to them how did you go about explaining it to your family?

RRM: So, I also develop a plan with my family but you know, you plan, hoping that it's not going to happen. But he happened and I remember that they will call me when I was sick and I just had no energy. Picking up a phone call a video call was so tiring but I also knew that they needed to hear from me. They needed to know that I was fine. But just the fact of answering the phone took so much out of me.

LL:  I know it has to be tough because not only is it one thing to deal with COVID-19 you're isolated and you're all by yourself and that has to be very tough. What would you say you learn from this experience?

RRM: I definitely learned to value life nowadays I make sure to continue exercising even when I don't want to because I want to make sure that I'm on top of my health and I also value people. I value every interaction that I have with every individual that comes that I come across with and even strangers online.  I have a lot of friends that I made during this time, a lot of friends on Instagram, a lot of friends that I reconnected with. And I think it's just remembering that we are in this together even though we're apart.

LL: So, what advice would you give to people that's watching right now?

RRM: Even if you think that this is not gonna happen to you, there are chances that it may happen to you.  So, please do take care of yourself. Please do follow the orders. Please do stay home.  Please take care of your families and your loved ones. Develop a plan. This is this is serious and I don't wish this upon anybody.

LL: My friend thank you so much for sharing your story today. I know it's not easy with so many unknowns with COVID-19. There's a stigma to the virus and even with us sitting here six feet apart, I'm gonna get messages all day saying are you okay?  People thinking that I put my health at risk but you're healthy you're fully recovered and you're back at work here and we're so happy to have you back with us and you know this is a great story because people can recover but we do want to take the precautions so we don't get COVID-19.

And before we go I want to say thank you to our essential workers for keeping this county running smoothly. Mainly the people working here at the EOC.  I also want to say thanks to the community for everything you're doing to stop the spread of COVID-19.

I know it's not easy. We've all been impacted by this virus from as serious as losing your job to having restricted visits to see your loved ones or not even having access to the simple things such as getting a haircut, going to the nail salon, attending religious services, or community events.  But you know we have to make you know for me personally it's very difficult not being able to see my parents but we have to make the sacrifices now and it will pay off later. And we will get through this together.

That's all for today thanks for watching everybody we will see you next time. Have a good day.