'This should not shut down the country': Coronavirus patient, 30, who spent days hooked up to oxygen tubes in quarantine trailer camp and lost his job due to lockdown says the US is overreacting to outbreak

The first Georgia coronavirus patient to be quarantined in a trailer park reveals he was shocked to recover only to find he was jobless, his state shut down, and the country brought to a screeching halt due to the pandemic.

Despite the crisis, Joey Camp, a 30-year-old Waffle House line cook in Cartersville, thinks the country is overreacting to the virus.

'With all the craziness going on in the world, America should show people that this is not something that should shut down countries,' Camp said to the Los Angeles Times. 

'We need to be the adults in the room,' he added. 

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30-year-old Georgia man Joey Camp, who tested positive for COVID-19, was quarantined, and overcame the disease, says the US is overreacting to the coronavirus. He was the first person in Georgia to be placed in a 26-foot RV at Hard Labor Creek State Park that was converted into a special quarantine camp run by state officials

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When Camp emerged from days in quarantine and isolation he was shocked to see his town reeling from the coronavirus scare with people wearing gloves and masks.  Camp's $10.65 an hour job at Waffle House cut back his hours because fewer customers were coming in due to the outbreak, and eventually closed down. A Waffle House in Georgia pictured above

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Aerial photo shows the COVID-19 isolation and monitoring site, where the first COVID-19 patient Joey Camp was isolated at Hard Labor Creek State Park on Friday March 13

The former National Guardsman contracted COVID-19 in late February but didn't think anything of it. 

When the chills and body aches became severe he went to an emergency room and was diagnosed with pneumonia. A few days later he tested positive for the virus. 

He said he was hooked up to an oxygen tube for three days. 

For the following six days he became the first Georgian placed in a 26-foot RV at Hard Labor Creek State Park that was converted into a special quarantine camp run by state officials.

The divorced father-of-two was hoping to return to his regular routine. 

He found it unnerving to emerge from quarantine to find people in public wearing masks and surgical gloves and wiping down gasoline pumps with baby wipes.

'It’s like Mad Max. It’s kind of weird. It’s like everybody’s holding their breath, waiting for either society to collapse or society to get back to normal,' he said. 

Camp's $10.65 an hour job at Waffle House cut back his hours because fewer customers were coming in due to the outbreak, and eventually closed down.

His other part-time gig as a party driver also ended, leaving him worried about how he’ll make ends meet.

'I’m making zero dollars for the foreseeable future,' he said.

'A person who makes $50,000 or $60,000 a year just isn’t understanding what this means,' he added.

When the divorced father-of-two emerged from quarantine he was excited to return to his normal life. But he was shocked to find businesses closing down and the community panicking over the virus

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As of Thursday there are over 83,000 cases of the virus in the US and over 1,000 deaths

Camp is one of many Americans in rural areas and small towns who are dismissing calls for social distancing and shutdowns – a far cry from the panic unfolding in big cities like New York and Los Angeles and Seattle.

Camp says that coronavirus is like the flu, even though science experts say COVID-19 is 10 times deadlier.

'It’s not going to kill the vast majority of the population. People are hearing 3.4 percent mortality. They’re not hearing the 96.6 percent survival rate.'

There’s been a stark contrast in virus response along party line.

Democratic states like California and New York have approached the virus with aggressive, and at times, panicked agendas, opening up testing centers and holding daily press conferences on the virus. Such states have also banned public gatherings and closed down restaurants.

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As of Thursday afternoon there are 1,525 cases of COVID-19 in Georgia and there have been 48 deaths. A drive-thru testing center pictured at the Cobb County Outdoor Arena on Tuesday March 17 in Marietta, Georgia

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Medical workers wear masks at the entrance to the mobile surge unit tent for coronavirus testing outside the emergency entrance at WellStar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta, Georgia on March 17

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Republican Governor Brian Kemp delayed in shuttering businesses. Finally on Monday he ordered bars to close and banned gatherings in public of over 10 people – however restaurants are still open and running. In Bartow County local officials shut down all dine-in restaurants, movie theaters, and bars. A testing tent pictured at Wellstar Kennestone Regional Hospital

However, Republican states such as Texas and Florida have seen much slower to respond to the virus.

Such states tend to have distrust of government regulations and media’s coverage of the pandemic.

Camp is a libertarian who says he intends to vote for Trump again. His home is a farming and manufacturing town of 20,000 people northwest of Atlanta.

'We have probably more owners of chickens in this county than we have coronavirus victims and there aren’t that many farms around here,' Camp said.  

As of Thursday afternoon there are 1,525 cases of COVID-19 in the state and there have been 48 deaths. 

Republican Governor Brian Kemp delayed in shuttering businesses. Finally on Monday he ordered bars to close and banned gatherings in public of over 10 people – however restaurants are still open and running.

In Bartow County local officials shut down all dine-in restaurants, movie theaters, and bars.

As the coronavirus outbreak escalates, Camp is admitting he may be bold in casting aside worry. 

'Maybe this thing is mutating and becoming more deadly. And that worries the hell out of me, because that puts me back in the pool,' he said. 

He ended up finding a new job in light of business closures, this time making hand sanitizer.