The head priest of a historic Georgetown church said Tuesday his condition is improving after he became D.C.’s first resident to test positive for the new coronavirus.
In a letter addressed to the Christ Church Georgetown community, the Rev. Timothy Cole described his life in the days since first developing symptoms: Tiring, but he is on the road to recovery.
“These last couple of weeks have been a strange up-and-down experience, and some days simply blur into each other,” Cole wrote, in a letter posted to the church’s website. “This virus has left me wiped out a lot of the time, but other days I have felt somewhat better.”
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D.C. Health officials announced the city’s first confirmed case of coronavirus infection at a news conference on Saturday, along with a second man visiting D.C. from Nigeria and who later tested positive for the illness at a Maryland hospital. The church later named Cole as the first case in a Facebook post.
“I am very sorry for all the disruption you have had to endure as a result of this.” he added.
“As I think of you all, in your homes, some on your own, some with your children around you, I suggest these days of self-quarantine might also give you an opportunity to do some things you don’t normally do.”
Christ Church has been linked with at least two other verified cases in the days since Cole entered isolation: 39-year-old organist Tom Smith, and a 40-year-old resident of Loudoun County, Virginia. It was unclear how or from whom they contracted the virus.
Approximately 550 people are members of the church.
