Steve Nicewarner is back at home, sleeping in the comfort of his own bed after 31days at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center, fighting to beat the relentless coronavirus.

Nicewarner, the 1,000th COVID-19- positive patient discharged from the University of Maryland Medical System, was welcomed back into his Elkridge home on June 23 by his two daughters, who also fought and beat the virus, and his wife, Cindy Nicewarner.

“Steve had some close calls; he was extremely sick,” said Cindy, 57. “They were working hard to keep him alive and keep him going.”

For Nicewarner, a 57-year-old Defense Department budget analyst, it all started May 17.

Fatigue and fever set in, just three days after his youngest daughter, Johnna, 25, tested positive for the coronavirus.

Johnna, who works as an emergency room nurse at Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, said she was doing everything to keep her family safe, including sleeping in a tent in the backyard.

By May 18, however, Nicewarner received positive test results, and two days later his older daughter, Jenny, 31, tested positive as well.

“I was really shocked that he got it. I was being very careful,” Johnna said.

“I don’t know where or when it happened, but unfortunately it did.”

After a week of stagnant health,