ORLANDO, Fla. — Over the past couple weeks, COVID-19 put Steven Pugh in the hospital twice.

“I will go to the hospital though if I feel my life is danger, and that’s the only reason I went,” Pugh said.

Pugh grew up in Central Florida and has family members in the area, but he now lives in Boston.

He recounted how coronavirus ravaged his body — he suffered from severe coughing fits.

“The entire body, systematically gets that feeling of just complete anxiety attack, plus you just can’t stop coughing and you can’t breathe through,” Pugh described.

He is now recovering. With the experience of living through COVID-19, Pugh is cautious when it comes to reopening the Sunshine State.

“They have to be 100 percent sure that when they’re going into an establishment, they’re not going to get somebody else sick, or risk that person getting sick, just because they want that particular establishment open … we can’t guarantee that,” he said.  

Gov. Ron DeSantis said he wants to review the task force recommendations before coming up with a specific date for the reopening to begin. ​