HUDSON, FL — Despite the Florida Department of Health reporting his death Friday, 46-year-old Hudson resident Gene Della Sala, the first Pasco County resident to test positive for the coronavirus, said he's feeling "90 percent better."

"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," he told Patch lightly, using the famous Mark Twain quote. Della Sala and his family were a bit taken aback when the Florida Department of Health reported his death at 6 p.m. Friday.

Four hours later, the DOH retracted the report, but not before Della Sala received a flurry of frantic phone calls from friends and family. "There was an error in data input for the Florida Department of Health reporting system in Pasco County which has been corrected. Currently, there are no deaths related to COVID-19 in Pasco County. We apologize for the error and will continue to keep you informed," said DOH in a statement.



Della Sala, the father of two, tested positive for coronavirus March 11. The founder of the online magazine Audioholics, Della Sala said he was exposed when a potential client dropped by his home in February. The client was a 70-year-old man who recently visited China. A few days after that visit, Della Sala said he began developing symptoms including a bad cough, stomach cramps, body chills, fatigue and diarrhea. He said the symptoms were comparable to a "bad cold" or the flu.

"I woke up and I just felt like I didn't even sleep, I just had complete lethargy and no motivation to do anything," he said.

Della Sala called the Florida Department of Health and his doctor, and was sent to AdventHealth Wesley Chapel for testing. He's been isolated at home since. He occupies one side of the house and his family the other.

In the 10 days since Della Sala tested positive, he said he has slowly recovered, though he continues to have some mild, lingering symptoms. Della Sala has to be re-tested every three days and won't be cleared until he tests negative two times. He meets a technician in the parking lot of the Pasco County Health Department who takes a swab. Della Sala's last test was positive.