Just came across this, have seen him many times on the Today show.....their expert virologist contributor. Very fit healthy guy (runs 5-10 miles/day) and takes precautions and he came down with COVID and had to be hospitalized. Tried to treat at home but eventually had trouble breathing and called ambulance to hospital. Wore masks, gloves, wipes things down but sounds like it could have been on a crowded flight home to New Orleans from NY and possibly through his eyes.
From the article:
It's possible that Fair contracted the virus during a recent flight from New York City to New Orleans, he told TODAY. He was flying home, and his
airline did not enforce social distancing measures.
"I had a mask, I had gloves on, I did ... my normal wipe-down, but you can still get it through your eyes," he said. "I was seated right next to someone. The flight was full."
Once Fair arrived, he left his home once to
go to the grocery store, where he practiced "max precautions," he said. Three to four days after his flight, he started to develop "a complete lack of appetite," muscle aches and a slight fever.
"At that point, it wasn't 'classic COVID symptoms,' but nothing is. That's what we're learning," he explained. "It's just so variable."
For the first three to four days of
symptoms, Fair said it wasn't serious enough for him to seek medical attention. He had spikes in his fever that got as high as 104 degrees, but he opted to self-treat with Tylenol, lots of fluids and fruit — "basically what you do when you have any cold or flu," he added.
But heading into last weekend, his symptoms started to worsen, and on Saturday, he noticed he was
getting very short of breath.
"By Monday, I couldn't take a full breath and had to call an ambulance," he recalled.
At 42 years old, Fair runs 5-10 miles a day, has a "good" lung capacity and no
underlying conditions. So he said one of the learnings of his experience is "if it can take me down, it can take anyone down."
As he told one fan
who responded to his announcement on Twitter, "Nobody is immune! Not even a virus hunter."
Fair hopes to be discharged from the hospital this weekend and has recently left the critical care floor.
https://www.today.com/health/nbc-news-contributor-dr-joseph-fair-sick-coronavirus-t181487