During COVID-19 outbreak, New York City native Fafa Picault staying connected with family

With New York City currently experiencing the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, FC Dallas winger and NYC native Fafa Picault has a ton of roots in the city.

Picault split his childhood between New York and Miami, but considers himself more of a New Yorker. He still has cousins, brothers, aunts, uncles in the city, mostly from his dad's side, and is glad to report that everyone is healthy and happy.

“Everybody’s safe, thank God," Picault told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. "I’m happy about that. We want to keep it that way.”

His grandpa, Henry, who is in his 90s, is still there too. The pair have a special bond but Fafa isn't worried about him.

“My grandpa is over there, a few people know around the league, that guy is kickin’ it like he’s 40," Picault said proudly. "I think corona is staying away from him.”

Their bond was subject to an MLSsoccer.com profile last summer:

With his family safe but nowhere near him, Picault is looking for the bright side of the isolation and free time. He's fine-tuning his cooking skills, as his love for food was cultivated from his parents' excellent cooking as well as his infatuation with the Food Network as a kid. He said his parents only allowed him to watch sports and educational programming growing up.

He's also connecting more with loved ones, video chatting multiple times a day.

“It’s a nice time to connect, you have to see the positives in these times," Picault said. "Obviously we’re all bored, not following our daily routines, but we have to see this as an opportunity to reconnect with each other, people we don’t always get to stay in contact with.”

When he's not connecting with loved ones, Picault is getting by with the help of two kittens, which he named Dolce and Gabana.

“They’re keeping me busy, man," Picault said. "I stay up later than I generally would, I see what they’re doing at night. It’s hilarious. They’re jumping on everything they can find. It’s nice to have them, I never had pets before. Couldn’t be better timing, especially having no family around me, having those two little suckers keeps me on my toes.”