44-Year-Old Shares His Covid-19 Symptoms, Says He Didn't Understand He Had It At First And Might've Infected Others

Like Michael Bane's story showed, COVID-19 can threaten even the healthiest of us. Such was also the case with David Lat, a high-profile lawyer and former federal prosecutor. The coronavirus attacked Lat with all of its might, and the 44-year-old couldn't beat it on his own. Severe breathing problems, insanely high fevers, and other symptoms got him hospitalized.

But his struggles didn't end there. Lat was even admitted to the intensive care unit where he was really fighting for his life. When he was on a ventilator and in a "very serious" condition, his husband, Zachary Baron Shemtob, told CNN, "One of the hardest parts here is we can't visit him. It's really tough."

Luckily, Lat pulled through. After he got better, the man shared all the things he went through when fighting the coronavirus to show that it's no joke.

Lat was in critical condition at NYU Langone Hospital in Manhattan where his fight with the coronavirus had taken a turn for the worse, his husband Zachary Baron Shemtob said. Shemtob told the New York Law Journal that at one point late Friday night or early Saturday morning, Lat was put on a ventilator after “his oxygen levels dropped.”

Shemtob added that the NYU Langone doctors and other staff were "really attending to [David]. They're taking it hour by hour, day by day."
You could say all of this was unexpected, as Lat had generally been healthy and in shape. He's run two New York City marathons and until recently did intense interval training every week and also walked about 25 miles a week.

One of the toughest parts of Lat's illness, said Shemtob, is that he and Lat's other family members are not allowed to go to the hospital. Because of the transmittable virus, they can't be with Lat as he continues to struggle with the illness.

Shemtob explained that doctors had prescribed Lat a Z-Pak (azithromycin) and an anti-malaria drug. They also were using an IL 6-inhibitor to combat the inflammation of Lat's lungs.

“Please be vigilant and careful as possible,” Shemtob said, speaking for both himself and his husband. “It's really important to get that message across."
Luckily, over time Lat got better and is doing much better than he was last week, when he was unconscious and intubated, having a machine breathe for him. He has been transferred out of the intensive care unit and taken off a ventilator, and even though he still needs a nurse's help for the simplest tasks, he has just progressed to solid foods and is steadily recovering.