MORGANTON, N.C. — Morganton's mayor is in the hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Mayor Ronnie Thompson has been hospitalized since Monday morning. He said he started feeling symptoms in late July.
“My head felt like I had a head cold the size Burke County,” Thompson told the Morganton News Herald. “I just felt bad.”
On July 25, the mayor said he got his positive test results back from Urgent Care, but wasn’t feeling terribly ill yet.
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“I could get out, do a little yard work, I could clean up the basement, I had a pretty big list to do,” Thompson told the Morganton News Herald. “But then the fever really set in. My fever was 102 to 103 for about eight straight days.”
He told the paper that it got to a point where he was eating less than 500 calories per day.
He also said that he would experience profuse sweating and violent shakes.
“I had no control, Dave. It was just like five or six people just shaking me as hard as you could. It would leave you literally like you had been beat up,” Thompson told Channel 9′s Dave Faherty.
He said his symptoms worsened Sunday.
His biggest concern was when his oxygen level began dropping. Thompson said he was in good health before this, riding his bicycle several miles a day.
“On Monday, we made that decision that, if I developed diarrhea and can’t take any fluids or any food in, that’s just a bad combination,” he told the paper. “So, we called the ambulance.”
By Monday when he was checked into Catawba Valley Medical Center, Thompson said he had lost about 20 pounds since he first got sick.
He said that he thought he would get to go home Monday afternoon, but doctors found a blood clot in his lungs when they did a CT scan.
On Wednesday, Thompson said he was feeling much better than he felt a couple of days ago. His pulse, blood pressure and temperature all were within normal parameters.
He said his doctor is trying to determine how best to treat his symptoms, the Morganton News Herald reported.
Thompson said he has been encouraging people to wear a mask in the Morganton area and even offered one to an elderly man who didn’t have one.
“Keep it handy with you and anytime you’re around anyone, wear your mask. It protects you and protects the other people,” he said.
The mayor is hopeful that he will get out of the hospital sometime this weekend. Currently, in Catawba County, there are 16 people hospitalized with COVID-19.
The Morganton News Herald contributed to this story.
Cox Media Group
