NEW YORK — Alysia Dagrosa, 33, was enjoying a clean bill of health after a lung surgery she had 18 months ago for thoracic endometriosis. What she didn't expect Tuesday morning, was a phone call telling her she tested positive for COVID-19.
"I'm trying not to get other members of my family sick," Dagrosa said, with a heavy voice and occasional cough.
The New York native is now confined to her bedroom and trying to regain her strength. She's been isolated to a small room for the last four days, away from her family.
"I hope I get to get out there again sometime...hopefully," she said in a video showing WUSA9 around her quarantined space.
Dagrosa's Brooklyn room has the essentials; a bed, dressers, TV and instruments to track her progress. She has a spirometer, a blood pressure machine and a food tray that her sister delivers her daily meals on. She's taking it one day at a time and hopes to rebound soon.
Dr. Linda Nabha, an infectious disease physician, recommends that families with mixed statuses -- where at least one person is positive or showing symptoms of COVID-19 and the others are negative -- set up a confined space to ensure the health of the negative family members.
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"You want to avoid sharing personal household items: dishes, towels, bedding Nabha said. "And this is the time that, if available, face masks would be good to use."
Dagrosa shares a bathroom with other family members, but said she wipes everything down to ensure no one else in the house falls ill.