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From YouTube: County of Santa Clara Public Health: A Personal Experience with COVID-19 - April 27, 2020
Description
Ricardo Romero-Morales, a Senior Community Health Planner for the County and now public information officer during the pandemic response, personally battled COVID-19 in March.
Today, he shares his experience and what he learned about the disease.
Recorded April 27, 2020.
The City of Cupertino would like to express its thanks to the County of Santa Clara for the use of their video materials during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in Cupertino, please visit https://www.cupertino.org/coronavirus
C
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
kovat
19
for
several
weeks.
But
first
we
want
to
remind
you
that
safety
is
a
priority
for
us
here
at
the
EOC.
Even
even
in
this
studio
we
are
practicing
social
distancing
and
our
crew
members
behind
the
camera
are
wearing
facial
coverings.
C
Our
thoughts
and
families
are
with
our
thoughts
are
with
the
families
who
have
lost
loved
ones
due
to
covet
19,
and
we
are
hoping
for
speedy
recovery
for
from
for
everyone
who
is
currently
suffering
from
this
virus.
Ricardo
knows
firsthand
what
it's
like
to
deal
with
cope
Kovac,
Kovac
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?
Thank.
D
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.
My
your
story
might
be
different
than
mine,
you
might
be
you
might.
Somebody
else
might
have
experienced
different
symptoms
than
I
did
but
yeah,
so
that
this
is
how
I
went
through
it.
I
remember
it
was
a
Tuesday.
D
It
was
a
Tuesday
afternoon
when
I
started
to
feel
a
little
bit
out
of
it.
I
was
feeling
fatigued
and
I
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
I
just
brushed
it
off
and
then
the
following
day
you
know
on
Wednesday,
I
was
back
to
normal,
I
was
I,
was
productive
at
work.
D
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
10:00
10:00
a.m.
I
just
knew
there
was
something
wrong
with
me
and
I
saved.
All
my
work
and
I
am
for
my
supervisor
that
I
was
heading
home
because
I
wasn't
feeling
well
as
soon
as
I
got
home.
D
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
continue
it
started
to
escalate
by
noon.
I
was
on
the
phone
with
my
doctor
with
fever,
and
the
koffice
started
to
get
a
little
bit
more
stronger
and
it
was
it
was.
It
was
a
dry
cough.
Definitely.
D
My
doctor
then
instructed
me
to
to
stay
home
to
stay
in
isolation
for
14
days
and
I,
which
is
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.
So.
D
So,
like
I
mentioned,
it
started
with
a
very
low
energy
starts
to
feel
fatigue
and
then
the
mild
cough
started
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
they
said
that
it
was
best
for
me
to
go
home
and
just
continue
to
be
isolated
and
staying
in
the
hospital.
So.
D
C
D
When
I,
when
oldest
pandemic
started,
I
had
a
conversation
with
my
roommate
and
we
developed
a
plan
and
I
was
I
was
supposed
to
be
the
one
taking
care
of
everybody.
But
it
was.
It
was
me
who
got
sick,
but
we
did
create
a
planning
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.
C
D
Course
you
know
one
because
I
was
taking
all
the
precautions.
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
this
infected
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
and.
C
You're
young
and
let's
not
leave
that
out
yeah,
so
also
what
were
some
of
your
fears?
You
know:
we've
heard
the
stories
on
different
ends
of
the
spectrum,
we're
from
from
death
to
full
recovery
and
the
symptoms
were
very
well.
Some
people
don't
have
symptoms
at
all.
What
were
your
fears
during
this
time?
So.
D
D
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
to
fully
recover
and
come
out
of
my
room
and
not
expose
my
roommates
as
well.
So.
C
D
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.
I
know.
C
D
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
had
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
they
think
it's
just
remembering
that
that
that
we
are
in
this
together.
D
If
you
think
that
this
is
not
going
to
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?
D
C
Friend,
thank
you
so
much
for
sharing
your
story
today.
I
know
it's
not
easy
with
so
many
unknowns
with
kovat
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've
been
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?
C
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
covet
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
kovat
19
I
know
it
is
not
easy.
C
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.