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Nova Uniao leader Andre Pederneiras caught the coronavirus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Nova Uniao’s head coach Andre Pederneiras was not able to escape the coronavirus pandemic that started to hit Brazil hard in the past weeks. In an interview with Combate, the 53-year-old former fighter confirmed he was tested and the results came back positive for COVID-19 – but he hasn’t suffer many harsh symptoms, fortunately.
Although Pederneiras did suffer night shivers for two days, Andre says his 15-day period with under the weather was mild, claiming he was mostly scared for his wife and kids. Since he turned his arena into a temporary hospital in order to treat patients in Rio de Janeiro and runs an ongoing campaign to feed the poor, the coach felt like he might have gotten the disease while out to facilitate those projects. Once his COVID-19 test came back positive, he isolated himself from his family.
“Fifteen days ago, I felt shivers for two straight nights, but nothing so serious. My youngest son woke up with a swollen eye one day, while the other one had diarrhea. I started to think that, even though my family stayed home, I could have come down with the disease because I was out managing my gym, shopping, and handing out food. I decided to take the test: my IGM came back positive, but my IGG came back negative, which means I have the virus, but I’m not immune to it yet. The same day, I started quarantining in my bedroom, I separated myself from my family in our house.”
Even while self-isolating, Pederneiras guarantees his work to help those in need during the pandemic will continue. On his personal Instagram account, Andre showed pictures of all the donations he received lately and left his bank account information for people who want to help the cause.
In a different post, Pederneiras explained his intentions to keep the project going, while emphasizing how important it is to keep the donations coming during these difficult times in Brazil.
“Good morning, my COVID-19 test came back positive. I’m fine, I’m self-isolating at home. My biggest concern right now is to keep our donation campaign going. The hunger of those in need can’t be pushed aside because someone is temporarily on medical leave in the middle of this war we’re going through.
“Although it’s impossible for me to go to the streets at the moment, our army of athletes and helpers will keep the donations going at the established times. Once I’m free to leave, I’ll be back in the frontlines, buying and handing out food so we can win this war together.”
As of the writing of this piece, Brazil has the second-most cases of coronavirus in the world, at 365,213. The country is going through its roughest patch of the pandemic yet, with 22,746 deaths already.