Chris Cuomo is opening up about the serious symptoms he's experienced after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Chris Cuomo is opening up about the serious symptoms he's experienced after testing positive for the coronavirus.
The 49-year-old CNN anchor, who's still working from the basement of his home where he is under quarantine from his wife and three kids, had a conversation with Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his broadcast on Wednesday. Cuomo, who shared that he found out he tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, said his symptoms took a definite turn for the worse that night.
"This virus came at me -- I've never seen anything like it, OK?" he shared. "So, I've had a fever, you've had a fever, right? But 102, 103, 103-plus, that wouldn't quit. It was like somebody was beating me like a pinata."
Cuomo said he actually chipped his tooth and also hallucinated, believing he was speaking to his late father, Mario Cuomo, who died in 2015.
"I was shivering so much ... I chipped my tooth," Cuomo said. "These are not cheap, OK? They call them the rigors, like rigors, r-i-g-o-r-s. But rigors. So, the sun comes up. I was up all night. I tell you, I was hallucinating. My dad was talking to me. I was seeing people from college, people I haven't seen in forever. It was freaky what I lived through last night, and it might happen again tonight. Doctors said it could happen, like, five or eight times."
"You know, I get it now," he continued. "And if you match that with chest constriction, people can't breathe, I totally get why we're losing so many people and hospitals are so crowded."
But in more positive news, Cuomo said his wife, Cristina, and their kids -- daughters Carolina and Bella and son Mario -- have tested negative for the coronavirus.
"My biggest fear was passing this on to Cristina and the kids," he said. "Even though I feel way worse than I did yesterday in terms of symptoms, it's been a great day. They're negative and that is the best thing I've ever heard."
Cuomo also couldn't resist ribbing his older brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"The irony about my brother joking about how I look is not lost on me, all right, like he's a box of chocolates," he cracked.
Cuomo testing positive for the coronavirus has definitely had a big impact on not only his older brother -- who tweeted that his sibling was his "best friend" and a "sweet, beautiful guy" after Cuomo went public with his diagnosis -- but his co-workers as well. On Tuesday's CNN Tonight, Cuomo's close friend and fellow newsman, Don Lemon, broke down in tears while discussing Cuomo's health news.
"Sorry, I said I wasn't going to do this, Jesus," Lemon said, dabbing away his tears with a tissue. "He's probably sitting at home laughing at me."
"Chris and I are very good friends," he added. "We live near each other. And so when I walk into work every day I have to walk by where Chris is, so I usually go to his office and sometimes I bring the dogs and we just say hello. Anyway, he's just not here, and we have this great relationship."
Watch the video below to see the emotional moment:
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