Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak tweets he, wife might be coronavirus ‘patient zero’ in U.S.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak tweeted Monday that he and his wife may have contracted the coronavirus after a trip to Southeast Asia and may have been “patient zero,” bringing the deadly virus to the United States.

Since the tweet, Steve Wozniak has said in interviews that neither he nor his wife, Janet Wozniak, were ever tested for coronavirus. Janet Wozniak later told USA Today she was diagnosed with a sinus infection.

The Wozniaks returned from a trip in Southeast Asia on Jan. 4 with sore throats and coughs, Steve Wozniak told CNET. “We canceled everything else to head home, but I couldn’t move out of bed for two days. I did tell everyone that I was sick and stayed away from almost all in Vegas,” he said.

"Janet was coughing up blood and went to the hospital and they said it was no American flu," he said. "We have not been able to get tested in this country. Had our return from Southeast Asia been today, we’d certainly have been tested and quarantined, with the symptoms we had. But it wasn’t treated as important back then."

Steve Wozniak said he did contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the symptoms he and his wife were experiencing. He said he received a form letter suggesting the couple be vigilant in washing their hands.

Steve Wozniak has received pushback on his tweet as people point out that the virus has killed thousands around the world. Steve Wozniak said the tweet was “kind of a joke,” but there is no way to know if the couple was suffering from COVID-19 since they were not tested.

"I think that our GI symptoms better fit some other flu, because you rarely hear of that with COVID-19," he said. "But there’s no way to find out until we can get a test, and now it’s two months later, and a month past symptoms."

COVID-19 has killed at least nine people in the United States. The worldwide death toll from COVID-19 on Tuesday was near 3,200.

Cox Media Group