Tonight, Doctor Fernando Cuellar is stable and says he is doing much better after being hospitalised with COVID 19 earlier this week.
The well known internal medicine specialist has been an outspoken advocate for stricter containment measures and for getting vaccinated - so it was a shocker for most - when this COVID combatant - who has gotten both his vaccine shots - fell prey to the same virus he's spent so much time battling against.
And, yesterday, it wasn't looking great for the Doc - his oxygen saturation levels was in the 80% range. But, he says that last night he turned a corner in recovery and today he was well enough to speak to Jules Vasquez via telephone about his experience. We spoke to him in his hospital bed at Belize Medical Associates:
Voice of Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Hospitalized with COVID
"24 hours ago I was feeling so unwell, but with the quick interventions, definitely my condition has improved greatly. I still require a little bit of oxygen, but as you can hear I can talk a bit more freely. First, I use to be unable to have these conversations without being interrupted by a lot of coughing and that kind of thing. But I must say that I am happy to be feeling better so quickly."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"How do you think you contracted Covid?"
Voice of Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Hospitalized with COVID
"There is a specific incident that I can recall very vividly, the more likely source: a patient who had covid and when I broke the news to him, he sat on the bedside and started sobbing, crying a whole lot. So I had to hug him. I know as a doctor you shouldn't do that, but that human part came out spontaneously and I held him and I put his head on my shoulders and pat him on the back and that kind of thing. So, that is as close that I had come close to any covid patient. More than likely it was that one specific event."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"You had that contact sometime last week, how did things progressed after that?"
Voice of Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Hospitalized with COVID
"After that contact my symptoms didn't really started until almost 5-6 days afterwards. When I started feeling a little bit unwell, you are feeling a little more tired than usual, then a cough started - a minor cough, nothing big, that was on Friday last. Saturday, the tiredness was vary, but definitely Sunday night it had gotten much worse, this fatigue, this exhaustion - it's amazing that you don't have power, energy to even get out of bed. I had to be helped and then throughout Sunday night I was monitoring my oxygen levels and then around 3am in the morning it dropped to about 86 and then I knew it was time to come in and check. So early Monday morning, yesterday morning before daybreak I came and we started my admission and my catscan which showed that both lungs had already been affected, bilateral pneumonia. From a scale from 0-10, 10 being the worse, maybe I had a 4, but enough to be hospitalized and use of oxygen."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Speak if you can about the fact that this is a breakthrough infection, so there are 2 interpretations, it shows the virulence of the strain that is going around, but others who are perhaps not pro-vaxxed are able to say well, its obvious that the vaccine won't keep you out of the hospital, because Dr. Cuellar ended up in his own hospital. What would you say to that?"
Voice of Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Hospitalized with COVID
"First of all, I am perhaps not the average person who come in contact with people. I see sick people, so my exposure is much higher than an ordinary person. And we didn't say that there would be infections in spite of being vaccinated, but I tell you that I am feeling better, quicker. In 24 hours I have improved quite a bit and I am sure the vaccine is helping with that."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"What do you think would have been the outcome with this infection if you were not vaccinated?"
Voice of Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Hospitalized with COVID
"I wouldn't be here talking to you like this, definitely I would be requiring much more oxygen. I would not be able to have these conversations. The way my catscan looked after 2 days, I am sure that if not vaccinated I would have been far worse."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Was there any point at which you feared for your life?"
Voice of Dr. Fernando Cuellar, Hospitalized with COVID
"Yes, of course. When I saw the oxygen slowly deteriorate during the night and it reached 86, I knew that it was time to come in, because it was serious and its of course concerned. I did not panic, I did not worry, I was mentally strong. I knew that I had some fantastic colleagues getting on my case. We have Dr. Musa, Dr. Arrianga came immediately to my assistance and everybody chipped in and very much grateful to the whole country for that the outpouring overall. I am very happy, very grateful to the country and I knew that's another incentive for me to get stronger to continue the fight and as Arnold Schwarzenegger says "I'll be back"."
Cuellar says he expects he will be in the hospital for another day or two. As for the persons he treated while asymptomatic who could have been exposed - his hospital has reached out to them for free testing. So far, all staff he contacted have tested negative.
