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In January, two weeks after Rick Solomon joined the YMCA near his home, he fell ill. The 65-year-old Bay Area resident hoped to spend the month working out, instead he laid in bed wheezing, with crippling muscle aches. He missed several days of work at a small publishing house.

"I was sick for most of the month of February with a horrible cough like I've never had before," said Solomon as he ran his fingers through his thick salt and pepper hair. "It went into my chest. I used inhalers for the first time in my life."

He was never tested for COVID-19 because he hadn't traveled overseas recently, which was one of the official requirements for testing at the time. And although he has since tested negative for the virus' antibodies, Solomon still believes he may have caught the bug.