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'Take It Seriously': Newport Beach Woman Shares Message After Contracting COVID-19

NEWPORT BEACH (CBSLA) — As the numbers in COVID-19 cases continue to grow in Southern California, survivors have begun to share their experiences fighting the illness and plea to others to take the virus seriously.

Newport Beach resident Deanna Hidder said she knew she didn't have the ordinary flu when she started feeling sick on March 16th.

The 54-year-old had been traveling for work and had just returned from a ski trip to Park City, Utah with her boyfriend the week before.

Upon her return home, Deanna found out she and her boyfriend had contracted Coronavirus.

"The things that kind of stay with you is the fever, the cough, the body aches and just being really tired," Hidder said.

"There's a point around day eight to ten of this virus where you sort of have a relapse period. It was worse for my boyfriend than for me, but definitely there's a time where your body hurts just a little bit more. We couldn't even walk across the street so it did get pretty bad."

Hidder doesn't know for sure where or how she and her boyfriend got infected, but she believes it may have been during their time in Park City, Utah.

She said three other people she knows from Newport Beach were there at the same time and they all contracted the virus.

Hidder visited the Spur Bar and Grill, where one of their doormen also tested positive. The managing partner there said authorities believe his case was due to community spread.

"The most people who come to Park City are really from New York and L.A.," said Spur Bar and Grill Managing Partner Cortney Johanson.

Johanson said before the restaurants were shut down, tourism hadn't slowed down at all. She believes people were infected and asymptomatic.

"The amount of people who were on Main Street...I think it was out there. I think people were kind of ignoring the signs," she said.

Hidder said she was sick for about two weeks and is now feeling better, but has a message she wants to share.

"I just want to talk about it, tell people to take it seriously because, in the beginning...I wasn't taking it seriously in terms of really protecting myself and protecting other people. Just stay in and just have an awareness," Hidder said.

Hidder, her boyfriend, and the doorman in Utah never had to be hospitalized and are now doing well but they all know there are those who are not as fortunate.

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