A physician's assistant who became New Jersey's first case of coronavirus has spoken out about the disease from his hospital bed and warns others to take the threat seriously.
James Cai, 32, fell ill last weekend while attending a medical conference at a hotel in Times Square.
He
has been hospitalized since Tuesday at the Hackensack University
Medical Center in Hackensack, New Jersey. So far, 13 people have been
tested for COVID-19 in New Jersey. The other 11 cases have come back
negative.
'Every day is getting worse,' Cai said Monday during an interview with CBS, adding that 'it happened so quick'.
A lot of people say it’s OK, don’t wear masks. I don’t believe that,' Cai said.
Cai, who works and lives in Manhattan and Fort Lee, New Jersey, said the virus is not one to be taken lightly.
In New York, where Gov Andrew Cuomo recently declared a state of emergency, cases of the coronavirus have shot to 142.
Cai told the network that he's not a smoker and had no underlying health conditions before contracting the virus.
Bergen
County Executive Jim Tedesco said Cai was in New York over the weekend,
went to work last Monday in New York, felt ill and came to Fort Lee
Monday evening and then sought treatment.
Tedesco stressed 'there was no known contact with anyone here in Fort Lee'.
Ihor Sawczuk, a doctor at Hackensack University Hospital, said Cai is 'resting comfortably and doing well'.
Fort
Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said Cai lives with his family in New York but
has an apartment in Fort Lee and doesn't have school-age children.
'This
case is not related to any other cases that we are aware of,' Sokolich
said, referring to the Westchester, New York, cases.
Following Cai's diagnosis, a woman in her 30′s tested positive for the new coronavirus, becoming New Jersey's second case.
Acting
Gov Sheila Oliver said Thursday that the new case involves a Bergen
County woman with mild symptoms, who is in isolation at home.
