Some Staff At WENY Test Positive For COVID-19, Working From Home
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HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) — There have been a lot of questions about why some of the on-air staff at WENY are working from home. We want to be transparent about what's going on and like for many of our viewers, COVID-19 is affecting some of our staff, in some way, shape or form.
Some of the staff at WENY are working remotely out of an abundance of caution and others are waiting for their test results to come back. A few staff members that have been tested had some unexpected results.
"I kind of had a bad feeling going in to that test once I couldn't smell as good as I normally would and it turns out, yes, I was positive," said Joe Veres, chief meteorologist.
Other than a sore throat, and runny nose, Joe's symptoms aren't much different from a cold. He says he decided to get tested in hopes of protecting his family, friends and co-workers from the virus, but the news he was positive came as a shock, as he doesn't know where exactly where was exposed.
"It was tricky all around, just because all along the symptoms were very minor. I can't go back and pin-point where exactly I may have picked this up," Joe said.
Joe's not the first WENY News staff member to have COVID-19, but unlike his colleague, when Ryan Campbell, sports reporter at WENY, got the news he was positive for the virus in October, he knew exactly how he was exposed.
"I was exposed to my mom. When she had tested positive, I was like, yeah, I think this is probably COVID," Ryan said.
Even though his symptoms didn't show up right away, a few days after he was exposed to the virus, Ryan started to develop a cough, fever, chills and body aches.
"I would say I had symptoms for probably, six or seven days before I felt any kind of normal again, but I'm just glad I only had to two days where I felt really bad and then I was able to see improvement from there," Ryan said.
Ryan tested negative a week ago, ready to return to work. For the time being, Joe is in quarantine, waiting to take another COVID-19 test, but he says he doesn't plan on stepping away from the camera.
"That's been a plus through all of this, even though I have to keep myself distanced socially from everyone, at least I can be on your TV screens every night," Joe said.
Even though our newscast may look a little different, we want to continue to take extra steps to keep each other safe, while continuing to cover the impact of this virus on the Twin Tiers.
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