CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Michael Romano, 53, was celebrating St. Patricks day with his kids when he started feeling bad.
That was on a Tuesday. The next day, he says, was noticeably worse.
"When I woke up Wednesday morning, I felt like there were bricks on my chest," Romano said. "Not that I was short of breath - but it was hard to breathe.”
The single dad lives in Charlotte. By that Friday, he had a fever of 101.
"At that point, they tested for corona, told me it would be three to four days before I got any results -- the results ended up being nine days later — I didn't get them until yesterday," Romano said.
By the weekend before last, he pretty much knew what he was dealing with.
“Saturday was the worst day," he said. "I couldn't get out of bed, I was exhausted — it just hurt so much to breathe."
That was day five.
"I felt like I was in trouble, now I didn't need the test to tell me I had the coronavirus," he said. "I had every symptom fever coughing, no appetite, no taste- it was bad.”
Incredibly, the very next day he woke up transformed.
“I woke up Sunday morning and started feeling better and every single day after that I got better and better until this past Friday I had no symptoms.”
He says he's pretty sure he knows where he got it — he went out for dinner and to hear a band play at a Charlotte-area restaurant the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day.
“You could say I wasn't taking it seriously," Romano said. "I was only going by what was open, I'm a single guy went out to dinner, I'm sure I contracted it that night.”
But he is grateful he never had to be hospitalized and he is just about fully recovered.
“I guess I'm one of the very lucky ones," he said. "My body fought it off, but I'm very lucky."
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