More than 22,000 people in New Jersey have tested positive for coronavirus, and more than 350 of those people have died.

The novel respiratory disease can affect those who contract it in many ways. Those with underlying health conditions and a weakened immune system susceptible to the worst of the disease, including the failure of respiratory and other vital systems, which can be fatal.

The majority of people who contract COVID-19 will recover, and the severity of the symptoms differ for those who have it. Many will develop flu-like symptoms, like a cough, fever and achiness, as well as experiencing shortness and having trouble breathing in some cases. While others will experience no symptoms at all.

As the number of cases into the state continues to surge, here is how two New Jerseyans, who have tested positive for coronavirus, describe what battling the disease is like.

Jason Failla, 41-year-old real estate agent

Brooke Failla said she had never seen her husband, Jason, sick like this before.

The 41-year-old father of two, who is built like an NFL linebacker, was debilitated in their North Jersey home earlier this month with intense flu-like symptoms.

When Jason first started showing symptoms on March 10, they assumed — and were hoping — it was a cold or the flu. He had a fever, was getting achy and eventually had an earache that felt like someone was “sticking an ice-pick into the side of his head,” Jason Failla said.

But still, the two weren’t sure if it was coronavirus (COVID-19).

Brooke Failla said that the first doctor he saw “sent him home with a recipe for chicken soup.”

However, the typical remedies to fight a nasty cold or the flu were worthless. About a week into the illness, Jason’s breathing patterns started to change. His breaths were getting shorter. He became winded going up the stairs or walking to the bathroom.

“Once your breathing starts going, you kind of get freaked out,” he recalled.

Jason Failla (left) with his wife, Brooke, at their home as he recovers from coronavirus.

Like thousands of others of New Jerseyans, Jason feared he had coronavirus.

But it shouldn’t affect a man with no underlying health conditions and who was in the best shape of his life, he thought, right? However, reports are showing that healthy adults are contracting the disease, and that around 20% of people hospitalized due to the virus are under the age of 44, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly a week after showing symptoms, Jason decided to get tested for COVID-19 at Morristown Medical Center after he started having difficulty breathing, and later learned he was positive. Brooke, who was also experiencing symptoms and said she was the sickest she had ever been, said she was advised by a doctor not to get tested because she was not having difficulty breathing.

When Jason went home, his health only got worse, he said.

He had no appetite. His wife spoon-fed him applesauce for his nutritional intake. He was self-quarantined with his own bedroom and bathroom. He laid there motionless, Brooke said, too sick to even turn the TV on. When he tried to sleep, he “just laid there moaning,” his wife said. Jason lost 17 pounds over the last two weeks.

The experience was “hell,” he said. His head was constantly pounding. His calf muscles were continually cramping. He had moments where it felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“I have never seen my husband like that so it was terrifying,” she said. “I have never seen him so sick.”

Until he wasn’t.

He was set to check into the emergency room the following day, but the couple first asked their primary care physician about a drug, Hydroxychloroquine, used to typically treat malaria. Patients have reported it can help tame COVID-19 symptoms.

The doctor was able to prescribe it and that night Jason took it before bed. He said he woke up the next morning, and felt much better. His oxygen levels were returning to normal levels and he was having an easier time breathing.

“I went from not being able to breathe to clearing up my lungs,” he said.

Health officials have warned in recent days that the drug has not gone through critical clinical trials for treating COVID-19 and can have severe side effects.

Brooke and Jason admit it could be a coincidence that he improved after taking the drug. Two weeks after first showing symptoms, Jason said he was back to 100% healthy.

Nicholas Giacomaro, 36-year-old car salesman from Bergen County

Nicholas Giacomaro said he has felt “10 times worse” when he had the flu than when he tested positive for the coronavirus about ten days ago.

The 36-year-old Bergen County resident said if there weren’t an ongoing global pandemic, he would have tried to fight through the fever, the chest pains and the headache he started feeling on March 21.

But with concerns swirling about the coronavirus and the fact that his wife is pregnant, the car salesman decided he would get tested for the disease once the symptoms started and his fever soon spiked to 102.

However, getting testing, as many New Jerseyans have experienced, was an ordeal. On March 21, Giacomaro first tried to go to the testing site at Bergen County Community college, but hundreds of other people had the same idea.

“It looked like the end of the world,” he said when he pulled up to the site.

Giacomaro then went to Chilton Medical Center in Pompton Plains and said he was tested within 30 minutes.

The next day, Giacomaro said he received notice that he had tested positive.

When he arrived home, he self-quarantined himself in a downstairs bedroom that had access to a bathroom away from his wife and children.

Giacomaro said he didn’t have severe symptoms, but as he watched reports about the disease and the growing concern around it on TV, he “kind of got freaked out.”

A little more than a week after testing positive, Giacomaro is feeling fully healthy after regaining his sense of tase and smell.

Regardless of his improved health, Giacomaro is still self-quarantining in his home for a few more days. He hasn’t seen his children in nearly two weeks, but still wants people to know that his story, like thousands of others who are recovering, is a hopeful one.

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Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow on Twitter @monavage.

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