On July 18, in a series of Tweets, Miles Cobia, MD, posted a warning to his Twitter followers. He wanted to alert them that he, his wife, who is a physician, and their 2-year-old daughter had all tested positive for COVID-19. He also wanted to warn them that this virus spreads very, very easily, even when you think there is no way you have it.

My pregnant physician wife and I are currently COVID positive. We are currently quarantining with our 2 yo daughter who is likely also positive based on symptoms. We have both been working in hospitals taking every precaution humanly possible, especially because of the pregnancy.

— Miles Cobia, MD (@neurooruen) July 19, 2020

Nonetheless, we are positive. We have been masking non-stop in our hospitals and have been protected despite seeing many COVID + patients along the way. We visited family this weekend and 8 of the 11 people we saw (not all at the same time) are now lab confirmed COVID positive.

— Miles Cobia, MD (@neurooruen) July 19, 2020

Cobia and his family had been doing all the right things. They wore masks. They washed their hands. They practiced social distancing. They avoided seeing family and friends, but there was a very small group of about 8 people who they would see occasionally to keep their sanity.

Cobia’s wife worked with COVID-19 patients, but since she was pregnant, she had not been allowed to see a COVID positive patient in about 3 weeks. 

Then the Cobia family decided to attend a small outdoor gathering with family and friends. He shares that the gathering was intentionally outside. He also shares that they did not wear face masks.

After the gathering, the Cobia family found out that they all tested positive for COVID-19. They altered family and friends, and most of the people they saw at the outdoor gathering tested positive too.

We did not mask while visiting with family because we let our guard down and thought we were safe. Every one of those positive have symptoms from congestion, headache, fever, malaise, myalgias, and anosmia. 2 of the positives are toddlers. One has been febrile for 48 hrs.

— Miles Cobia, MD (@neurooruen) July 19, 2020

The other toddler just started showing symptoms today. We were together with these people, largely outdoors, for 24 hours this weekend and 8 out 11 are positive. Please be careful out there everyone. #COVID19 is just so contagious.

— Miles Cobia, MD (@neurooruen) July 19, 2020

They let their guard down, and they regret it. 

To provide some more details, my wife had symptoms about 2 days before anyone and was the first lab confirmed positive. Her exposure was through full PPE and she had not directly seen a known COVID + pt in over 3 weeks as her group won’t let her since she is pregnant.

— Miles Cobia, MD (@neurooruen) July 19, 2020

Obviously she feels a great deal of guilt but we all made decisions as adults to be there. During the past 5 months, we have seen my brother, her sister, our parents, and 3 couples we are close to. Thats it. Unfortunately several of these people saw us this past weekend.

— Miles Cobia, MD (@neurooruen) July 19, 2020

We take full responsibility for the mistake. We had become used to relying on this small group for socialization during this and its devastating that even this failed. Regardless, I want people to use us as an example and learn just how contagious COVID-19 can be.

— Miles Cobia, MD (@neurooruen) July 19, 2020

This is a great reminder that even if you think there is no way that you have COVID-19 and that there’s no way that the people you know could have COVID-19, you really can’t be sure until you see a test result. This virus seems to spread very easily, and we should not let our guard down.