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Coronavirus Update: Recovering Patients Wonder When They'll Know They're Out Of The Woods

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Many COVID-19 patients are now beginning to recover, but when do you know you're out of the woods?

"It was pretty brutal," Russ Camarda said. "It was a beast. It was a monster."

Camarda is a video producer and actor but never saw himself in this role -- the guy suffering through more than two weeks of the coronavirus and fearing the worst.

"It's the not knowing whether you can keep this out of your lungs, what's gonna happen if you don't. You're looking at reports about hospitals and everything and you're saying, man, if I go in, if I have to go into a hospital, am I coming out?" he said.

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

"Anxiety, I think, is a big factor in this because there's the whole unknown," Yvette Corporon said.

Corporan had to stay away from her family for two weeks but hopes she's at the end.

"I seems like no two stories are the same, no two experiences are the same, and we've all heard of stories of people who get better and then take a turn for the worse," she said.

They are part of a group that's now coming out of the coronavirus.

"It was much worse than I had ever imagined. It was probably my worst health experience in my life," said Dr. Jake Deutsch of Cure Urgent Care in Manhattan.

Deutsch is a doctor and a patient. He has recovered from COVID-19 and says don't fall for all the misinformation.

"Whether it's using a hair dryer or swallowing water frequently to not allow the virus to attach to the parts of our respiratory tract where it may invade our body, you know, none of that is proven," he said.

"What do you recommend to people about how they know it's safe to, let's say, go back to work or at least be with their spouse or children?" CBS2's Dick Brennan asked.

"The recommendation for essential workers, health care workers, is one week from onset of symptoms, three days without fever," Deutsch said. "For the general population, our instructions are essentially two weeks after the onset of symptoms, you're no longer considered infectious."

CORONAVIRUS: NY Health Dept. | NY Call 1-(888)-364-3065 | NYC Health Dept. | NYC Call 311, Text COVID to 692692 | NJ Health Dept. | NJ Call 1-(800)-222-1222 or 211, Text NJCOVID to 898211 | CT Health Dept. | CT Call 211

Those who have been through the ringer say follow the rules.

"This is not something you wanna get, even so-called mild circumstances," Corporan said.

"I think the best thing to do is keep a positive outlook. The worst thing you can do is give into anxiety and fear because I think your immune system suffers as a result," Camarda said.

Words of wisdom from the road to recovery.

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