BUFFALO, N.Y. — A man who grew up in Cheektowaga who now lives in North Carolina reached out to 2 On Your Side to share his experience with coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
He was back in Western New York the weekend of March 14 and later found out he was carrying the virus.
Christopher Zgoda walked us through his visit.
He said in part, "On Friday evening I went to get a fish fry at Ebenezer Ale House. I was there for a couple of hours with my dad and my uncle and then just called it an early night."
Zgoda went on to say, "Saturday was my fiancee's wedding shower. Saturday morning, as far as being out in public, her wedding shower was at Lucarelli's on Abbott. I was only there to show up at the end, to say hello, thank everybody for coming. I was probably there for 20, 30 minutes and left."
He added, "After that ... we went back to Ebenezer Ale House because it's one of our favorite places to go. We were only there for a couple of hours. Then we went to the Blackthorn after that."
Zgoda estimates he was at the Blackthorn from around 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
"That was the extent of us being out in public," he said.
Zgoda told 2 On Your Side he starting feeling symptomatic on Monday night. By the time he got back to North Carolina, his temperature was 103.3.
"I didn't take my temperature, my fiancee did for me. Her expression on her face was like, 'Holy cow, you need to go get tested right this second,' " Zgoda said.
He got tested for the flu and coronavirus on Tuesday in North Carolina. His test results for COVID-19 came back positive on Saturday morning.
Fortunately, he's been staying at home just in case.
He said it started with just aches and pains, but became more severe.
"It felt like I was sitting in a hot tub in hell. That's how hot I was getting, the fever I had. It felt like I got hit by a truck basically," Zgoda said.
Now he's feeling much better, but there are other concerns. For example, his 5-month-old baby.
"I haven't touched the baby since finding out. She does everything as far as changing the clothes and feeding. She's been doing all that stuff," Zgoda said.
He told 2 On Your Side they're now taking the outbreak seriously and encourages others to do the same.
"We just didn't expect it to be true," he added.
Just because you may have been in the same places as Zgoda that weekend, doesn't mean you have the virus.
However, you should monitor your symptoms.