Wednesday is a solemn day in our state. It marks exactly three years since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Connecticut.
Since then, nearly a million more cases have been diagnosed, and thousands of people have died.
However, before there were mass testing sites, before businesses and schools were closed and way before a vaccine was introduced, there was Connecticut’s first case. It was a man who used to live in Wilton, Chris Tillett, who remembers those terrifying days.
“Knowing that you’re essentially turning gray, and every breath was a challenge,” is a lasting memory Tillett says he has.
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He was diagnosed with the virus on March 8, 2020, at Danbury Hospital. The lead infectious disease doctor remembers the day.
“We were anticipating this happening, but when it finally came, I don’t think anyone was really expecting it,” said Dr. Paul Nee.
Like many hospitals, Danbury had been doing drills to prepare but when Tillett arrived, he remembers the uncertainty.
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“They had assumed that I had the flu or something else, and I said' no, this is much worse than the flu,'” recalls Tillett.
Testing at a state lab confirmed what doctors and Tillett feared. He was positive for COVID-19. In the days, weeks and months following that diagnosis, hospitals around the state began to fill up.
“People were very ill,” says Nee. “We were using a lot of ventilators at that time. [People] were young, they were old.”
It has now been three years, and while Tillett is in a better spot now than then, he still feels lingering virus symptoms.
“I do feel that I’m almost 100% back, but it’s taken that long,” said Tillett.
Tillett is doing much better today. Remarkable, considering he spent nearly three weeks in the hospital, including 10 days in an induced coma.
