ASHEVILLE - Peter Landis is one of the lucky-unlucky ones.

Landis is among more than three dozen Buncombe County residents who tested positive for COVID-19 and one of at least 33 who have recovered, according to an April 9 count. Three county residents have died of the disease that has swept across the world, killing more than 100,000.

Now Landis, 71, and his wife, who was also infected but asked her name not be used to maintain her privacy, are trying to discern what life means post-coronavirus.

The Citizen Times is providing this story for free to readers because of the need for information about the coronavirus. We encourage you to further support local journalism by subscribing.

"Basically, we’re trying to figure out as people who have recovered and allegedly have immunity, what can we do," he said.

That's led to feeling "like a ghost" at times, he said. It's also given them a glance into cutting-edge research of disease resistance.

New York, Asheville

A retired television news director from New York, Landis and his wife settled in Asheville in 2015. He became a fixture of local government meetings, attending as a representative of a downtown residents group and often hobnobbing with journalists.

Around March 13 (Friday the 13th) Landis said he started feeling "crummy."

"I took my temperature, and it was up. But it was below 101 degrees. I'd been paying attention to the guidelines and they said if your temperature is under 101, don't worry."

Then on Sunday, March 15, he listened as a top health and human services official lowered the threshold to 99.6 for older people.

More: How to watch special coronavirus Buncombe commissioners meeting

Swabbed

The next day he arranged a test at his doctor's office. The drive-through procedure first ruled out the flu. Next, using a long swab, staff took a sample for SARS-CoV-2, the specific coronavirus responsible for the pandemic.

The test was sent off. "And I spent a week basically being frustrated, worried and not knowing."

Landis has a history of underlying health problems with asthma, high blood pressure and a cardiac stent.

More: Asheville confronts coronavirus racial disparities

On March 23 he learned he was positive. He isolated himself and tried to avoid contact with his wife, but it was difficult in a two-bedroom apartment. While she wasn't tested they believe she also contracted COVID-19 because she showed similar mild symptoms: slight fever, body aches and tiredness.

Working with the health department, the couple hunted for the origins of the infection. They had been to New York and taken a cruise to London, but that was months before Landis first felt ill, far outside the period between exposure and onset of symptoms.

Not having contracted it from someone outside Buncombe put him in the category of "community spread."

'Ghost,' plasma donor?

The couple have now recovered, but things in some ways are stranger.

Landis has been trying to track the latest science on immunity and registered for the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project. The Michigan State University-based project is collecting plasma from people who have recovered, hoping to use it as a bridge treatment until a vaccine is developed. He also reached out to a Rockefeller University study.

Spokespeople for both studies said researchers were unavailable to comment.

"They’re working around the clock," Michigan State spokeswoman Kim Ward said April 14.

Landis gave the Buncombe Health Department permission to talk about his case, but officials there didn't respond to April 13 or 14 requests for an interview.

Though it's not certain, the science points to the couple possibly having immunity. That allowed them to move about with less fear, Landis said, until stricter social distancing measures were enacted.

"I went to a grocery store, and I felt like I was out of place. Like a ghost drifting through there."

Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.