LICKING COUNTY, Ohio -- Earl and Kristi Warner are quarantined inside their Licking County home.
They've had to send their children away, after doctors last week gave them a startling diagnosis.
"They said we're under suspicion of having COVID," said Earl.
They say they started feeling sick early last week.
"When the symptoms first started, it doesn't really feel like anything serious, it just feels like the normal," he said.
"Yeah, it's really hard to tell whether it's like an allergy or a cold or something just minor," added Kristi.
When Kristi spiked a fever Thursday, they called the coronavirus hotline and were sent to the emergency room.
They say they were tested and told to quarantine at home.
They are still waiting on their results.
"My biggest fear is not really me, it's who I came into contact with," said Earl.
The thought that they might have unknowingly passed it along to anyone else, "It just makes me feel awful," said Kristi.
"That's the worst part about this time period," said Earl. "If we could take a test and know in an hour or something, we could have told people six days ago about this. And then they wouldn't be out there spreading it around."
Kristi describes her son visiting from outside their home.
"He stood outside on the front porch and I have a glassed-in door on the front porch, I and i was talking to him and it just felt like a surreal kind of moment that you see in a movie," she said. "My heart broke. And he talked to me, and got back in the truck with his dad and started crying because he wanted to give me a hug so bad."
And to everyone watching, they say this:
"Nobody is immune to this, so take it seriously. Help out everyone else around you. STAY HOME."
The Ohio Department of Health set up a call center for questions about the coronavirus. That number is 1-833-4-ASK-ODH (1-833-427-5634).
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