Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak made a claim that he and his wife, Janet Wozniak, could be “patient zero” for the coronavirus in the US.
The 69-year-old tech entrepreneur told USA Today that he believes they may have contracted the virus during a trip to Southeast Asia in January.
He described coming down with “the worst flu of our lives” following the trip with symptoms such as sore throats and coughs.
“Checking out Janet’s bad cough. Started Jan. 4. We had just returned from China and may have both been patient zero in U.S,” he said in a tweet on Monday.
Wozniak clarified that they were not tested for coronavirus upon their return.
“Had our return from Southeast Asia been today, we’d certainly have been tested and quarantined, with the symptoms we had. But it wasn’t treated as important back then,” he told the publication.
When Wozniak reached out to the Center for Disease and Prevention (CDC), he said they sent him back a letter about proper hand washing.
“There was no test for this COVID-19 then,” he admitted. “Eventually, they did have a test, but you could only get it done through the CDC and they wouldn’t test people like myself and Janet, who were well past symptoms.”
Wozniak said the illness, which doctors told him was “no American flu,” caused him to cancel several planned appearances in Las Vegas.
“We canceled everything else to head home, but I couldn’t move out of bed for two days,” he added. “I did tell everyone that I was sick and stayed away from almost all in Vegas.”
While Wozniak’s claims are serious, Janet called his comments “kind of a joke.”
She told the publication she doesn’t share her husband’s beliefs because she was reportedly diagnosed with a sinus infection.
She also reported experiences gastrointestinal symptoms, which are not in line with the coronavirus illness.
The coronavirus is spreading rapidly around the globe with cases topping 94,000, according to LiveScience. Outside of China, where the virus seems to have originated, there have been 233 deaths so far.
Health officials believe the virus spreads similar to the flu through droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) encourages people to wash their hands thoroughly, use hand sanitizer, and cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing to prevent the spread of germs.
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