Family of Coronavirus survivor recalls frightening moments

A Coachella Valley family has spoke out after one of their own tested positive for Coronavirus early on in the pandemic.

Garrett Hoy, 19, is a performing arts student at Pace University in New York. They participated in a workshop for a potential show on Broadway, while working with a small group of performers. The family said members of the group began to develop symptoms, including Hoy.

"It was a scary-- I would say month-- between worrying about your own child and fighting. We were fighting COVID by ourselves," Hoy's mother, Kathy Jo Hoy said.

The family flew Hoy back after their symptoms seemed to have improved. Toward the end of the flight and immediately following, that's when Hoy's symptoms began to worsen.

"On the next hour and a half of the flight I got incredibly nauseous, my fever spiked and this is after almost 72 hours with not needing anything," Hoy said.

Hoy said having pneumonia years prior was one of the worst sicknesses they've dealt with. Coronavirus had its own challenges.

"In terms of being cold and feverish and body aches, this was probably one of the worst cases. Most of my sicknesses dissipate 4 to 5 days within a week and this one just continuously lasted," Hoy said.

Once Hoy came home, the family immediately began to quarantine. Kathy Hoy has a rare autoimmune disease and was diagnosed with leukemia and a low white blood cell count in 2010. They knew what to do in terms of distancing, and keeping their home clean and disinfected.

Hoy stayed inside a casita detached from their home, where they had their own facilities and bathroom.

"I would go in and come out, change clothes, clean up, take off my shoes, disinfect. I’m surprised I didn’t get sick. I was wearing the mask trying to be as a cautious as I could. I was taking his temperature, rubbing his head, putting medicine, I was very physically close to him, and luckily it didn't transfer," father Jonathan Hoy said.

The family believes because Hoy did not experience a severe cough early on, their father was not exposed.

For the family, getting Hoy tested also became a mission.

"And then he tested negative," Kathy Jo Hoy said. It was a false negative."

"It took 8 to 9 days to get the test results back. By then he had already recovered. And then we followed up with an antibody test later and found out he had it," Jonathan Hoy said.

The family got a first-hand look at the impacts of Coronavirus early on. They said because Hoy's symptoms did not appear life-threatening, hospitals did not admit them.

"I feel like it's not over. It was scary for my family to get it. I was crying every night praying to god that they weren’t going to die because you just don’t know," Kathy Jo Hoy said.

Additional members of Kathy Jo Hoy's family also contracted the virus in a separate incident of exposure. She said it included her elderly father, sister and others. All have since recovered.

Meanwhile, Hoy has also recovered and is doing much better. The family is continuing to take precautions and urges others to do the same.

"I can’t tell people how important it is to wear a mask and that it’s real," Kathy Jo Hoy said.

Hoy also recalled experiences their friends in New York witnessed.

"Some of my friends who ended up staying in the city, they would walk to the cafeteria and there’s a hospital adjacent to the school. In order to deal with the bodies they would have big pick-up trucks on the side of the road and you could feel the cold air blasting out of them. That’s where they’d hold the bodies," Hoy said.

They also described a surprising experience after coming to the valley, and hardly seeing anyone wearing masks. Hoy had some words for people who choose not to wear face coverings.

"Your negligence in public, directly can kill people."