By Matthias Gafni, San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 2020
Surely, Rafael Arias thought, it must have been the spicy fish and rice he’d eaten the day before. The 42-year-old Oakland restaurant worker could think of no other reason for suddenly feeling ill.
It was late March, and the novel coronavirus had begun to take hold in the Bay Area. On March 22, the day after Arias felt those first symptoms, California postponed jury trials, Hayward opened a free drive-by testing site, and Alameda County, where more than 100 cases had been reported, announced its first COVID-19 death. The week before, the Oakland restaurant where Arias had worked as a barback closed its doors.
As his fever, aches and confusion worsened, Arias sensed he might have the virus. He decided to begin chronicling his days in a handwritten journal, to memorialize what he believed might be a descent to death.
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