American hospitalized with coronavirus: ‘It messes with your mind’

An American hospitalized in Japan after testing positive for the coronavirus said Tuesday that the isolation is starting to take an emotional and mental toll.

“It messes with your mind. I never really felt so alone,” Rebecca Frasure said on CNN’s “New Day.”

Frasure, who tested positive after being quarantined with other passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, said she hasn’t had physical contact with anyone in 12 days beyond someone taking her blood pressure or checking her lungs with a stethoscope.

“I don’t know if anybody else has experienced that. Clearly, people who are in the hospital too are probably experiencing that to a degree, but that is something that plays with your emotions,” Frasure said. “To not be able to touch somebody, to hug somebody, to have that personal interaction with another human being, and to not have that interaction with your spouse, it’s kind of devastating.”

“It messes with your mind,” says Rebecca Frasure, who has been hospitalized in Japan after being diagnosed with coronavirus. “To not be able to touch somebody, to hug somebody…to not have that interaction with your spouse, it’s kind of devastating.”https://t.co/xInGAzpURw pic.twitter.com/EX79QJZWhU

— New Day (@NewDay) February 18, 2020

The U.S. evacuated hundreds of Americans on board the ship Sunday, including 14 that tested positive for the virus. Frasure’s husband remained on the ship, even though he could have been evacuated.

Frasure said she is not experiencing coronavirus symptoms. She said she had a “slight cough” and a “very slightly elevated fever” when she first arrived at the hospital, but her cough is “essentially gone” and she does not have any other symptoms. 

In order to be released, though, she has to register negative results for two throat swabs on consecutive days, she said. 

The Americans who were evacuated from the ship will remain under an additional 14-day quarantine in the U.S., according to a joint statement issued Monday by the State Department and Department of Health and Human Services.