Interview with the Argentinian zero patient: the emblem of the start of the pandemic

A year ago, the businessman Ariel Publius Claudius it made headlines across the country. This March 3, 2020, the former Minister of Health of the Nation, Ginés González García, accompanied by the then Secretary for Access to Health and current Minister of the Portfolio, Carla Vizzotti, and the Minister of Health of Buenos Aires, Fernán Quirós, announced at a press conference that Argentina detected the first positive for COVID-19, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that emerged in Wuhan, which was already spreading heavily in China and Italy.

“We have the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the country. He is an imported patient, who comes from ItalyWe work from day one, respecting all protocols, ”explained the manager. Still, it was a few days before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the pandemic. At this moment, the reality was very different: the United States had only 107 infections; Canada, 27; Ecuador, 7; Mexico, 5; Brazil, 2 and Dominican Republic, 1. Twelve months later, the numbers are shocking: Currently, the North American country tops the world rankings with more than 28.6 million positives and 514,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

P., arrived from Europe a few days before, thus becomes patient zero, that is to say the first person diagnosed with a coronavirus in our country, in a context where very little was known about the subject. By then, Argentina had already activated the Doubtful Case Tracking Protocol at Ezeiza Airport, but it took a little over a month before the use of masks was made mandatory. .

When the entrepreneur, then 43 years old, who had traveled for professional reasons in Spain, Hungary and Italy (the latter, a country which was beginning to go through the health emergency, already counting more than 3,300 infected) started to feel feverish, went to the clinic at the Swiss Medical Center, located in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, in the city of Buenos Aires. There they studied him and, according to protocol, he was isolated. The next day he was transferred to Agote sanatorium and He went through the disease in relatively good clinical condition and without major shocks.. So much so that, as color data, he recorded a video that went viral in which he could be heard asking a nurse if he could eat sushi while in hospital. He was released within 10 days.

In an exclusive heads-up with Infobae, P. remembered how those days were and shared his advice.

– He was the first person to be diagnosed with COVID-19 in Argentina. What feelings do you remember at that time?

– It was a little weird to have the disease when you didn’t know what could happen to you. But I was calm because, once I arrived at Swiss Medical, they had completed the studies and the parameters were suitable for me; Later when they did the PCR and they detected that I had COVID-19, I asked how it was going to be, to have the disease, what could happen to me, because I didn’t know anything , and they told me that immunologically I was fine, to keep calm, that nothing was going to happen to me. So I had a great time, no complications at all.

– He was scared?

– Nerd. Not because I was always good, calm. Nothing.

– What were those days when you found out you had COVID-19?

– I was working in Milan, in a fashion show, and there, when I arrived, nobody knew anything about the virus, there were no chin straps, no gel alcohol. The exhibition had proceeded normally. I spent several days working. Later I went to Barcelona. But I never felt bad: I worked 10 hours a day, I was walking, I was energetic, it was good. On the flight back to Buenos Aires, I didn’t feel anything, as I slept at noon to 2pm. But when I got off the plane His shirt was all sweaty and I thought it was a little weird. So as a precaution, but at no time did I think it could be from COVID-19, I went straight to show myself. My flight will have arrived at 8 a.m. and I was at Swiss Medical at 9 a.m. And, as I explained I was from Milan, just in case, they did the PCR on me. Yes on March 3 at noon, they detected that he had coronavirus and that he was the first patient with the disease in the country.

– How and where do you think he got infected?

– For me, in Milan, because the epicenter of the disease had passed there and during the trip I was surrounded by a lot of people. There were thousands of people at the exhibit. Later I traveled to Barcelona, ​​but already on the way back. So I think I got infected in Italy.

– Was the symptom just a fever? Have you lost your smell or taste?

– Nothing of the sort. Sweating, which must have been a fever, during the flight, which I did not notice. Then, when I arrived at swiss medical, they took my temperature and I was 39 degrees and a dry cough -although not much- and just a sore throat. I stayed at Swiss Medical for four hours and then had no other symptoms. They didn’t even give me a cold sore to lower the temperature. I spent the 14 days in perfect condition.

– Did you have some sort of sequel?

– No. I’m fine and healthy too. I had no after-effects. I play sports every day.

– Have you ever imagined that you would become an emblem of the pandemic in Argentina?

– No. Unfortunately, it was my turn. It could have been anyone. I am calm because I did things as I should: arrive and be assisted.

– People around you will have asked you many questions, such as “How do I know if I have COVID-19?”

– I was telling people who asked me. But mine was minimal. Later I found out that other people had more complicated things. Now I had neither aches nor loss of smell.

– Are there older adults in your family?

– Yes, my mother and father. But they are doing well.

– What do you advise people?

– The obvious: come on, it struck me as something which, for me, was asymptomatic. But you have to take care of yourself because each organism acts differently and nothing, there are people who end up with a ventilator or who have sequelae. This is something serious.

– While you were traveling, how was the behavior of people in Europe? Have you taken care of yourself? Was she more relaxed?

– No zero. No one was wearing anything. No one was wearing a chin strap or alcohol gel or anything because there was no pandemic. I traveled and had the disease before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it was going from an epidemic to a pandemic. So, there everyone was leading a normal life. The bars and restaurants were open, everything was normal. Later when I left there he started to shut everything down.

– So you think you were infected in Milan without realizing it because, obviously, they did not take precautions?

– Moreover, if you had to take precautions like now, the exposure was not made. These are very large exhibitions, very important in fashion, they were not going to do. But everything had been done as usual: normal Fashion Week, the fashion show. Afterwards, I think Fashion Week had been canceled, after five days when there were already quite a few cases. But at first everything was normal. Otherwise, I would not have traveled.

– You are young, vital, you exercise, you take care of yourself. However, he still uses the chin strap.

– I continue to take care of myself, obviously. This new modality is normal.

– How are your antibodies?

– I still have antibodies. I study at Conicet every month, take blood tests, which I am at their disposal to do this study. Only 10 days ago they made me one and they still detect antibodies. This does not mean that everyone continues to have them. Some can have them for a month, two months, three months.

– When it’s your turn, are you going to get vaccinated?

– Obvious, Yes. In fact, I still get the flu shot.

– It’s one more.

– Yes, that’s one more.

– The advice would be that for everyone.

– Of course.

– Many young people who find it difficult to stay more isolated at home.

– If at 16 you were told to stay home, how did you see it?

– But your advice today is to tell the boys to wait a bit?

– Yes of course. You still have to take care of the older ones.

– Of course, the father, the mother.

– How do you make the boys understand.

– They can’t be detained.

– It’s impossible.

– Do you have anything else to advise?

– What we all know: You must be careful. Then I wanted to thank people for the way they treated me. I had already done it on another occasion: to the people of the ministry, who called me constantly; to the neighbors here, who are phenomena; to doctors, infectologists, who worried all the time and continued to study. The truth is wonderful.

– From your point of view, should our grandparents and parents be the first to get vaccinated?

– Exactly. And the doctors.

INTERVIEW: MARCO SAYS

VIDEO CREATION AND EDITING: THOMAS KHAZKI

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