Patients worried, not panicky, after Southern Pines obstetrician diagnosed with coronavirus

Dr. John Byron is an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Southern Pines Women' Health Center, a clinic run by FirstHealth of the Carolinas.

FirstHealth officials said Byron, who agreed to be identified, recently traveled to the Germany. When he learned the visit could place him at risk for the virus, he went into quarantine, they said.

He last saw patients last Friday and didn't show any symptoms of COVID-19, the illness associated with the virus, until Tuesday, officials said. He tested positive on Wednesday.

"At first, I was worried for him and his family," said Althea Hrbek, a patient who has known Byron for years and called him an excellent physician.

"It was shocking because it just brings it home, the reality of the whole situation," Hrbek said. "It is not just instances we are hearing on the news, that there are people that we know and care about and it could be any of us.”

Leslie Clothier, who is pregnant, said she visited the Southern Pines clinic on March 11.

"I have a medically fragile child at home, so it does hit hard for us at the house because of my daughter. But we also don’t panic," Clothier said.

FirstHealth officials said patients and staff in contact with Byron last week have been notified of the situation. But they consider him to be minimally infectious when he was at work and don't believe patients and staff are at serious risk for COVID-19.

State Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Tilson said that pregnant women should be considered a high-risk category for contracting COVID-19.