Long Beach mom who says she has coronavirus shares her experience
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Charlotte Getz had a pretty big announcement on Instagram.
"The No. 1 question I keep getting asked is where I got it from, like how did I get the coronavirus?" Getz says.
Getz is a writer, wife and mother of two in Long Beach. She also says she learned Tuesday she tested positive for the coronavirus.
"I did not think that I had the coronavirus," Getz says. "I was getting tested, just so I could get in to see my rheumatologist."
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Getz says after traveling to San Francisco in February and Georgia three weeks ago, she fell ill and tested positive for the flu. Unable to shake the flu, and also having Lupus, she says her rheumatologist ordered the COVID-19 test before he would see her in person.
"It felt like a bad flu. It was not fun, but it was not... um... I never wondered if I needed to be hospitalized or anything," Getz tells us.
Long Beach city officials now say there are 12 cases of COVID-19 in the city. Getz says the health department checks in with her every day and her only remaining symptom is a low-grade fever. Coincidentally, even before she announced her positive test, Getz began vlogging to provide hope in the midst of coronavirus, and to promote social distancing.
"Social isolation is not just about keeping yourself well, I mean that's a fringe benefit. But it's about getting outside of your own... you know, stop being selfish," she says. "And it's about taking care of the people around you who you have no idea you might be infecting."
Getz tells us her husband and daughter didn't have any symptoms, so they have not been tested. She says her son had symptoms and was tested, but the test came back negative.
