New Jersey Physician's Assistant, Struggles To Talk, 'Getting Worse' From Coronavirus Illness

A New Jersey physician's assistant said that his fight with coronavirus rendered him exhausted and unable to talk.

James Cai, 32, who was Garden State's first coronavirus case said on Monday that he's been "getting worse" since he was admitted to Hackensack University Medical Center, WCBS reported.

In a text message on Tuesday, Cai told the New York Post that his "lung is still too weak; one talk could take me days to recover."

Cai said that he had no underlying health issue but he admitted struggling against the virus and its symptoms.

"The virus is everything," he said. "Diarrhea, watery eyes, shortness of breath, chest pain, you name it; high fever, every day is getting worse."

The patient believes that he caught the virus while he was attending a medical conference last weekend at the Westin in Times Square where he visited an urgent-care clinic and followed it with a trip to the emergency room at the Hackensack hospital where is now currently confined.

Cai said that everything about his illness happened so quickly and urged everyone to take the coronavirus epidemic seriously.

In the Garden State, the virus had already spread to 11 people and, on Monday, Governor Phil Murphy issued a state of emergency in the state to "enable agencies and departments to utilize state resources to assist affected communities responding and recovering from COVID-19 cases".

CNN reported that 700 people have been infected across the country and 26 deaths have been recorded.