Member Recounts COVID Scare

By Arty Bolick
I think I am now in the clear, and so am putting this out there: 

On Monday afternoon, I was referred to the ER at UNC Hospital’s Hillsborough Campus through a tele-medicine consult based on a slight fever (100.4), shortness of breath, and an extremely elevated heart rate (147 bpm). I was given a COVID test at the ER in addition to a battery of blood tests and tests for other forms of infection (flu, other known coronaviruses, etc. …).

The blood tests revealed clear markers of viral infection. Because the tests for the other sources of infection were all negative, the ER doctors strongly suspected COVID. I was then transported to UNC Hospital’s main facility ICU based on that suspicion and the fact that my blood pressure had also become extremely elevated. It rose to as high as 212/120.

I spent Monday night in the COVID unit of the ICU. Early Tuesday morning, my COVID test came back negative and I was moved to the regular ICU for continued treatment of my heart rate and blood pressure issues. By early afternoon, with my blood pressure and heart rate under control, I was returned to the Hillsborough Campus for admission to a regular room. I was discharged Wednesday afternoon.

Without another explanation for my infection and the sudden onset of the other symptoms, my doctors in Hillsborough believe it is probable that I have COVID despite the negative test results. The tests are only 63% accurate, and so false negatives are apparently not uncommon.

Other than the scary blood pressure and heart rate issues which thankfully have resolved, my COVID symptoms are extremely mild. I have no cough or sore throat, and have not had any elevated temperature in the past 94 hours. We are hopeful that all of that will continue.

I write this to stress that even an unbelievably mild case of COVID can land you in the ICU. You also do not know how your mild infection might impact your neighbor.

Please be careful out there.

H. Arthur (Arty) Bolick II practices with Brooks Pierce in Greensboro, and is a past chair of the NCBA Construction Law Section. The above account from his Facebook page was posted on April 18, 2020, and is republished with permission.