HANCOCK COUNTY — They have no idea how or when they contracted COVID-19, but three Hancock County Sheriff’s Department deputies who tested positive for the disease are now back at work.
While all three have been cleared medically, are healthy and have returned to their normal shifts, their experience of facing the pandemic firsthand was a frightening experience.
“I’m 35, and I’d have to say that was the worst thing I have ever experienced,” Deputy Wes Stegman said.
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Normally a fit first-responder, Stegman admitted he was worried for his life when he was at his sickest, with a fever that spiked to 104.
“There were times I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it,” he said.
On Thursday, March 19, Stegman started feeling feverish with a headache. He left work early and stayed in bed for several days, but his condition didn’t improve. A trip to the emergency room, where he was screened for COVID-19, only added to his fears.
Doctors sent him home. After a couple more days, his fever finally broke and he started feeling better.
“The biggest battle was just trying to control my temperature and stay hydrated,” he said. “I was also coughing pretty violently and almost passed out one night.”
Stegman said the test to determine if he had the virus was uncomfortable. It also took eight days to get results.
“They stick a swab up there (the nose) and it feels like they’re trying to touch your brain,” Stegman said.
The hardest part for Stegman was worrying about his wife, Meja, and his two daughters, ages 7 and 4, he said. Stegman was isolated in a separate bedroom and stayed away from his family until he was better.
“My wife immediately put me in a room and said, ‘You’re not coming out,’ and that made a big difference,” Stegman said. “She’s got good mom instincts.”
Ill without warning
Deputy Justin Owens first felt sick on Monday, March 16, after he got up, played with his kids for a while and then took a shower to get ready for work. When he finished the shower, Owens said, he couldn’t get warm and quickly got the shakes and a fever of over 102 degrees.
Owens knew something was wrong when he also developed a persistent cough. He, too, was able to be tested and waited a week to find out if he was infected. By that time, he was feeling better.
Owens was sick for three to four days with a cough, and fever.
“I just fought through it and didn’t go to the hospital,” Owens said.
Owens has three small children, so his wife isolated him from them when he first started feeling sick. He noted that a week prior to falling ill, his baby daughter had a cough and fever for about 24 hours, and his wife and oldest son each had a fever and cough for 24 hours after he got sick. But, his middle son never showed any signs of the illness.
“We’ve all had coughs since November,” Owens said.
None of his family members ended up being tested, and they are all doing well now.
“After I got the positive test, we were all home together for about 17 days and didn’t really go anywhere other than outside to take a small walk,” Owens said.
Like Stegman, Owens is not sure where he contracted the virus. He also works part time at Mt. Vernon schools and was there and at a nursing home the week prior to getting sick. Owens also had to take a woman to jail who needed to be medically cleared, and that exposure may have been the source, he said.
A third deputy received positive test results on Wednesday, April 1, after taking the test at a first-reponder site hosted by Eli Lilly and Co. in Indianapolis.
The deputy started feeling sick Friday, March 27, and thought he should get tested after he was having difficulty breathing. He otherwise had mild symptoms and is back at work 13 days after first feeling ill. He has had lingering issues: His senses of taste and smell have been affected, but he’s hopeful that condition will improve in time.
