Carl Goldman, who co-owns KHTS Radio with his wife Jeri Serrati-Goldman, returned home Monday night after enduring more than a month in quarantine fighting the coronavirus, or COVID-19.
He was released from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha after testing negative twice and arrived home to Jeri, who said she spent 14 days in quarantine and never tested positive for the coronavirus.
Though free of COVID-19, Carl said he is self-quarantining for an additional 14 days.
“I’m feeling fine physically. I think quarantining right now is the best thing that could happen,” he said Wednesday. “I think we’re in a critical stage and we don’t want to have a major outbreak like in Italy.”
He added: “It will be a memorable (experience) and I’ve only been home for 48 hours; I’m still digesting it.”
As a holiday gift, the couple embarked on a 16-day cruise aboard Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess on Jan. 17 to southeast Asia. With more than 3,700 passengers and crews, the ship was put under quarantine near the end of its scheduled journey after a passenger tested positive for coronavirus.
Soon after, passengers and crew members were tested for COVID-19 by Japanese health officials, after the ship stationed in the Port of Yokohama. The Goldmans tested negative but a friend of the couple they had spent time while in quarantine aboard the ship did test positive.
While on the flight home, Carl tested positive, he said. He started with a consistent fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Both were taken to a Nebraska medical facility for quarantine and isolation.
“Quarantine was like in the movies,” Carl said, adding that he was hooked up to monitors. He was also part of a clinical study that aimed to look at several factors of the virus, Carl added.
Now back home to a valley and region that is being recommended to socially distance themselves to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Carl said: “The more we can self-quarantine, the better that is.”
At the same time, the community “should try and remain calm. I learned a lot of lessons, but the most important one to me is to cherish my health now. Why look at the glass half empty when you can avoid stress?”
