BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay) sounds like himself again two weeks after he says he first tested positive for COVID-19.
After days of fever and coughing, Fine went to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne for an X-ray and a blood test.
Fine was expecting to hear he had pneumonia, but he says the doctors told him his condition was so severe that at 46 years old he was at risk of dying.
Fine said about 30% of his lungs are covered with damage from COVID-19.
"It's not getting worse, but it's going to take a while to get better. And certainly the notion of how long is it going to take? Is it possibly permanent? That's certainly scary," Fine said.
The south Brevard County representative expects to take another round of medicine at the hospital Friday, and then he'll be going home to his family.
On his Facebook livestreams, Fine is getting a lot of questions about hydroxychloroquine.
Fine said he took it up until Sunday when he got to the hospital.
Fine said his wife and two sons also had the virus.
They're long since over it and Fine said everyone in the family has the antibodies.
Fine spoke about the excitement of seeing his family again Friday.
“That’s part of what’s hard is no one can visit you,” he said. “I’ve never had tens of thousands of people pray for me before and that’s just a profoundly humbling thing that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”