MACON, Ga. — COVID-19 is infecting people of all ages, young and old.
After testing positive for the virus this week, a 28-year-old Macon attorney is urging people to take social distancing and shelter in place guidelines seriously.
On March 17th, Jordan Josey woke up to a high fever, shortness of breath, and a cough. Knowing these were possible coronavirus symptoms, he went to a Macon urgent care.
"I went to an urgent care center and asked for a test, and they said I didn't meet the criteria," says Josey.
Since he hadn't recently traveled outside the country, or come into known contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus, doctors sent him home with some steroids, an inhaler, and no COVID-19 test.
"My chest would hurt with every single breath, and if I coughed it, was like getting stabbed with a knife," says Josey.
Josey says the symptoms intensified, so he returned to the urgent care 5 days later and doctors discovered a partially-collapsed lung. The next stop was the emergency room, where health care workers told Josey he still couldn't get tested.
"I was sick for 10 days total and I ran a fever for about 8. The worst of it was the way that it attacked my lungs," says Josey.
In the middle of what he calls a "horrific journey," Josey and his wife learned they had been exposed to a confirmed case of coronavirus on March 13th.
They called her physician, who finally agreed to test Jordan. By this time, his wife's symptoms had faded, so she wasn't swabbed.
"I had this feeling in my mind like, 'This shouldn't be happening to me because I am young, and I am OK.' I think the only way we're going to stop this is if we take the guidelines seriously and we prevent the spread by everybody staying confined," says Josey.
Josey says his doctors tell him he's no longer contagious, but he'll continue working from home like most of us for the next few weeks.
He says his law firm was already taking social distancing and sanitizing measures before he fell ill, and, luckily, no one else in his office has developed any COVID-19 symptoms.
The American Red Cross says people who have fully recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies in their plasma that attack the virus, which could be used as potential treatment. Josey says he's applied to donate and is waiting on approval.
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