KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As of today there have been more than 140,000 cases of COVID-19 confirmed around the world.
Nearly half of those cases have recovered and those people are now back to their normal lives.
One of those who tested positive and has since recovered is an East Tennessee woman who was quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan with her husband.
Jeanie and Arnold Hopland are now back home after spending weeks in quarantine overseas.
At the end of January, the Hopland's set sail on an overseas cruise.
On the last day of the trip in early February, someone on board tested positive for the coronavirus, which led to hem being quarantined for weeks.
It was a long journey back home, but they want people to know you can recover.
Jeanie is just one of more than 70,000 people that has recovered from COVID-19.
At 74 she said she's healthy and never had a respiratory virus before. She describes her covid19 symptoms as mild.
"I had a cough, a little sneeze," she said.
So mild, she barely realized she was sick.
"It didn't stop me from doing what I was doing. I was going every place we went, enjoying it and that's the sickest I got," Jeanie said.
Testing positive was a shock. For weeks she was quarantined and was finally able to go home March 2 after testing negative twice.
"They called us asymptomatic and we said we just don't feel sick," she said.
After weeks away she's finally back to her normal life.
"Yesterday I was out weeding and I thought just being outside is a pleasure," she said.
Jeanie also said don't panic if you test positive, but urges people to be careful of passing it along to someone who may not be able to fight it off. "Don't fear getting the disease if you're healthy. Worry if you need to keep someone protected, if you have an elderly person in your home or are going to visit them often think about that but don't worry for yourself, don't worry."
Arnold has written a book about what it was like to be on the cruise ship during the outbreak.
He hopes to have it published soon.