Apr 20, 2020 4 min read

James Vigil’s first symptom last month was a deep cough that burned his lungs. He had just recovered from a lung surgery in November after suffering a snowboarding accident.

Before the surgery, his lung capacity was near 40%, but the operation brought it back to 80%.

“If he hadn’t gone through with it and done the surgery, this could have had a very different outcome,” Carolyn Vigil, his wife, said recently. “The coronavirus would have been a lot worse for him.”

James, of Shepherdstown, W.Va., became the first person to test positive for coronavirus in their state last month. He got it first, with a 104-degree fever, muscle aches and headaches, though most of their concern was for his lungs and breathing.

“We went to the ER three times in 10 days because of his lungs,” Carolyn said. “No one seemed to know how to take care of it. I was worried about his oxygen flow. I was scared for him, and he didn’t know how scared I was.”

Doctors gave James albuterol for the times he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Then, Carolyn started coughing and developed a headache that couldn’t be subdued no matter what she took to alleviate it.

“You felt like you were in a fog,” she said. “I felt like I was coming out of anesthesia. I just couldn’t clear my mind. You feel like you took a weird pill.”

They were monitored by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, which had a caseworker check in with them. They had to keep a log of temperatures to provide to the department. James’ symptoms lasted 14 days, while hers lasted about 10, Carolyn said, though it took a full 21 days for her to feel like herself again.

“It was such a hard thing for my body to fight off,” she said. “He still has a residual cough, but he’s supposedly not contagious anymore.”

Once recovered, the Vigils were tested a second time and both came back negative. After that, they scheduled an appointment to donate plasma.

“We’re trying to give back,” she said, “to give antibodies to the sick and the frontline workers, and to develop a vaccine.”

Overall, the Vigils’ community has been overwhelmingly supportive, Carolyn said. They did find out that a neighbor with whom they were not acquainted filed a complaint with their homeowners association, saying it should have disclosed that the couple tested positive for COVID-19. Carolyn said that while the disclosure would have been a violation of their rights, the couple didn’t hide the fact that they had coronavirus and they let people know about their diagnosis when they could.

“We have seen some stigma, but it’s been somewhat minimal,” Carolyn said.

Though they were well enough and not contagious anymore – by Centers for Disease Control guidelines, at least – they decided to still act as though they were contagious, to ensure the safety of others.

“When people see us, you can just see the fear on their face,” Carolyn said. “We went back into quarantine.”

Mark and CeCe Sieffert of Wincester, Va., experienced the same thing after testing positive for the virus. They have been without symptoms for more than two weeks, but because there’s so much uncertainty as to when a person is no longer contagious, they’ve been tolerant of people’s reactions toward them.

“I think there’s so much uncertainty for what ‘recovered’ means,” Mark said. “People don’t know the details of your recovery because illness is usually private.”

The Siefferts, who also plan to donate plasma, contracted the virus March 19. Their symptoms were not severe, Mark said, as they mostly dealt with headaches, fevers and body aches. They also lost their sense of taste and smell.

“Once we noticed that, we were like, ‘Oh, this is COVID-19,'” Mark said. “I think we were fortunate having it early and in the stage of life that we’re in.”

They were some of the first in their area to contract the virus, making their experience somewhat of “a novelty,” Mark said.

“Everyone I talk to has a million questions,” he said.

Mark said in an interview Thursday that he lost a friend to coronavirus on Wednesday. He said that knowing how many lives have been lost to the virus, putting up with any sort of post-recovery stigma isn’t too great a challenge.

“Whatever stigma there is, the fact that we’ve recovered is so much better,” he said. “I’m not really afraid anymore, but I need to remember what it’s like to be afraid. I don’t have any certificate that says I’m not contagious. I have to respect that other people are afraid.”