Darryl Lancaster, a teacher who has lived in Las Vegas for more than 50 years, realized he had a fever and other COVID-19 symptoms around Easter. Both Lancaster and girlfriend Shelly Donald, who became symptomatic days later, assumed they had contracted the virus, but back in mid-April, testing wasn’t as readily available as it has become since in Southern Nevada.

After making a few phone calls, Lancaster was able to get tested at UNLV, Donald says, and his status was prioritized because he suffers from asthma. “But I wasn’t eligible to be tested yet,” she says. “We found out a couple days after that he was positive, and since I already had symptoms at that time, when the health department got involved and contacted me, I was able to get tested.”

Lancaster’s condition worsened about a week after he initially felt ill, so he checked into a hospital. He was receiving oxygen but never had to use a ventilator. He stayed at the hospital for about a week while Donald was quarantined at home and recovering, unable to see one another.

“I couldn’t check on him,” says Donald, who works for the state regulatory board that handles private investigators’ licensing. “I understand that the health department had to [do that], basically put [people] under threat of prosecution to force them to stay home. It was just weird being told you can’t leave your house.”

That wasn’t the only weird thing about the couple’s COVID experience. Donald says the sensation of temporarily losing her senses of smell and taste was unnerving. “That’s really bizarre. Other than that, for me it felt like a really bad cold. I only had a fever for a couple of days. We were both really tired—it just saps your energy.” After about three weeks, she says, they both felt close to normal.

Lancaster and Donald are uncertain how they caught the virus, explaining that they were wearing masks and “sanitizing everything” before they became symptomatic. Lancaster says he was given experimental drugs during his hospital stay, which helped his recovery, and that fortunately, they haven’t dealt with any of the continuing symptoms they’ve read about in other cases of coronavirus.

“I really believe physical fitness helps you,” he says. “Being in better cardiovascular shape is helpful, since this thing affects the heart and lungs.”

Lancaster says he supports the school district’s plan to get local children back into the classroom on a limited basis this fall. And while coronavirus was a challenging experience for the couple, Donald thinks Southern Nevadans need to find ways to stay safe and continue with their lives.

“We’re looking at it like we’ll be dealing with this through the end of the year and into next year, and you can’t hide in your home forever,” she says.