Covid-19 was the last thing on his mind when he went to a crowded bar in Scottsdale, Arizona, Jimmy Flores said.
© Courtesy of Jimmy Flores
“We were about to reopen, and we really didn’t care about Covid, to be honest,” Flores said.
Two days later, he woke up with a fever of 103 and body sores, Flores told CNN’s Erin Burnett. A week later, she was in the hospital, where she was put on a breathing tube during her week-long stay.
Arizona has been one of the most affected areas in the pandemic recently, with cases on the rise. The state has at least 84,093 people infected, compared to 46,689 reported on June 19.
That night at the bar, Flores said he was there with friends and “we were just enjoying our lives during that time,” he said.
The bar was packed with between 300 and 500 people, Flores said.
But days later, when the fever came, “it was bad enough. I knew something was wrong,” Flores said. His test for Covid-19 returned positive days later.
The cough started when he took a deep breath, Flores said.
“Within 24 hours I couldn’t breathe without fear for my life,” he said.
Before contracting the virus, Flores said he was active, went to the gym, and had no pre-existing conditions.
“I would never have imagined in a million years that I would get this virus the way I did,” he became so ill about a week later, Flores said.
“When I decided to go to the hospital, I also decided to make this message public, because I knew I had made a mistake,” Flores said.
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