So far in Saskatchewan hundreds of people have recovered from COVID-19, one of those people is 20-year-old Mayson Sontag.

Sonntag, a student at Ithaca College in New York, tested positive for the coronavirus shortly after returning home to Regina.

He says he only decided to get tested because his mom urged him to.

“I just thought that I was over stressed and hadn’t slept enough, at least in the beginning because symptoms started out pretty light,” said Sonntag. “It just goes to show how dangerous it is. It is incredibly asymptomatic, and I wouldn’t have known if I had it or not.”

He says that the worst symptoms he felt were tightness in his chest, headaches, lack of energy, and his ears stuffed up.

Sonntag says he contracted the virus despite being someone who practices good hygiene, and he urged everyone to continue to follow public health guidelines.

‘Take it seriously. The more serious that we take it now, the sooner we can get to back to life as normal,” said Sonntag. “This is a very contagious disease, now is the time to stay inside, even if it’s not for you, do it for people that you care about, do it for your family that might have a higher risk of contacting it and have a higher risk or more complications.

Despite Mayson having the virus while sharing a house with two family members, the virus did not spread. He adds that it shows the effect that physical distancing can have.

Mayson hopes that people can take a message of hope from his story, and help Saskatchewan keep on the positive trend that its on.

“There’s hope, this isn’t a battle with no end, I beat it,” said Sonntag. “Our cases are going down, so now is not the time to go back outside. It shows that what we’re doing is working, we are beating this.

Sonntag says even though he is fully recovered and feeling good, he is going to continue to be cautious.