Fayetteville, NC – WRAL Fayetteville journalist Gilbert Baez has been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19.
Baez, who was completely vaccinated, was hospitalized Thursday at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville after he was diagnosed with bacterial pneumonia the day before after testing positive for COVID-19.
“My doctor says the fact that I was vaccinated helped me fight the virus,” Baez said Friday. “I’m fine as long as I’m still, but the slightest movement causes uncontrollable coughing and difficulty breathing.”
Baez made a Facebook Live video Saturday from his COVID-19 unit room at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.
“I’m one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to take in oxygen or carry a fan,” he said.
On Saturday afternoon, Baez said he felt better.
Baez was vaccinated in early January.
Baez said he and his wife, Doris, tested positive for the virus days after their 66th birthday party. The ten friends and family who attended the party were vaccinated and half of the people who donated tested positive, he said.
His wife is starting to recover, as are three other people who tested positive, Baez said. Although his wife had lost her sense of smell, Baez noted that she had lost her appetite, saying she had not eaten in several days due to nausea.
Baez said that when the 102-degree fever did not respond to medication, he knew it was time to go to the emergency room for treatment.
The award-winning journalist has lived in Fayetteville for more than 35 years and has worked at WRAL-TV for 23 years.
He covered the Gulf War for WRAL News in the Middle East in 1991 and was the first to report that Fort Bragg soldiers were sent to expel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.