‘I thought I was strong’

“On the fourth day at RITM, when I heard wailing sounds of people who have lost their loved ones…. that was when my fears started. I said, ‘ Oh no, it seems maraming taoangnamamatay’ (many people are dying). That’s when I turned to faith and I started praying with my family” Navarro told broadcast journalist Karen Davila in an interview on ANC on Tuesday.

On his Facebook post, Navarro said he got sick after arriving from a family trip in Japan.

“In Tokyo, we thought we were making-up for the risk by always wearing our masks, vigorously washing and rubbing our hands with alcohol and wearing disposable latex gloves, which we regularly changed and threw away throughout our five days there,” he wrote.

He said he could have gotten the disease from a Filipino man who was sitting behind him on their return flight on February 25.

“Seven days later I was chilling and I started coughing, the dry cough was really bad, and that indicated to me that I got the virus,” Navarro said.

“That night of March 3, I decided to play it safe and that I be immediately tested. St. Luke’s hospital did not see the need to test me. The hospital said my symptoms were mild, and Japan is not a Covid-19 hotspot. I insisted. I had to insist! I was tested. I was discharged. I went home,” he added.

On March 4, an official of the Department of Health called to inform him that he was positive for the virus and that he should be isolated.

Navarro, who is a lawyer from Deloitte Philippines, said it was only during his confinement at the RITM that he had fever.

“My first three nights were okay. I thought I was strong, and all the symptoms [were] beginning to disappear. It was only on the fifth day that I started having diarrhea, my cough was back, and then I got the chills again. And on the sixth day, I had fever again,” he said.

He added that the psychological effect of his confinement was the most difficult part of his ordeal.

He said he was given chloroquine, cough medicine and some antibiotics for his pneumonia, which was one of the symptoms of the disease.

He was transferred to a hospital in Sta. Mesa, Manila after the sixth day, where he stayed in isolation until he recovered 15 days after he was diagnosed.

It was during his confinement, he added, that he realized that ignorance and inaction would cause the virus to spread faster.

“Should anyone experience ANY symptoms, they should stay home and limit contact with others. They should NOT shrug off any symptoms and downplay them,” he said.

Disclosure is also important because it helps Health officials trace people who may have been infected as well.

Navarro called on the government to deploy more doctors and nurses at the RITM, which he said was understaffed.

“There were times na ‘yung mga ( the) nurses sinasabinila hindinasilaumuuwi,hindina silanatutulog kasihindidumating ‘yung kanilang kapalit (they told me that they no longer go home, they cannot rest because their relievers did not show up). Sanayung gobyerno magdagdagpang mga ( I hope the government should add more) doctors and facilities that will handle these types of problems,” he said.