WRAL reporter Gilbert Baez hospitalized with COVID-19, shares video from bed
WRAL reporter Gilbert Baez is hospitalized with COVID-19.
The Fayetteville-based reporter shared a video Saturday from his hospital bed at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.
Baez, who is fully vaccinated, said in the video that he was admitted to the hospital Thursday night and is in an isolated COVID-19 ward. Baez said he is the only patient on the COVID-19 floor who is vaccinated, and the only patient who is not on oxygen or on a ventilator.
“COVID doesn’t care who you are, who work for, what your job is,” Baez said in the video.
By Monday, he said he is now on oxygen because of low oxygen levels. He recorded another video from his hospital bed, described as a “little COVID-19 setback.” He said he has not been experiencing shortness of breath and X-rays of his lungs were described by doctors as “very good.”
“They don’t know what this oxygen issue is right now,” he said.
He said he had continued to be treated with Remdesivir and had hoped to leave the hospital Monday to continue his recovery at home.
Baez began working as the Fayetteville reporter for WRAL in 1989, then worked at ABC-11/WTVD before returning to WRAL.
Baez said he and his wife had 10 vaccinated friends at their home on Sunday, Aug. 15, to celebrate his birthday. By Wednesday, he and his wife were both feeling sick, so they got COVID-19 tests, which came back positive. Five of the 10 people at his party now have COVID-19, Baez said.
He said he has run a high fever, and suffered from coughing and low oxygen levels. He has lost 15 pounds since becoming sick, but is being treated with Remdesivir, and is getting better.
Saturday, Baez said he was the only person from the group who has required hospitalization, he said.
But Monday, he said another one of his guests, who is in his 80s, had arrived in the hospital and was now on the same floor of the hospital. Baez said he is the sixth fully vaccinated person from the gathering to be diagnosed with COVID-19.
In Saturday’s video, Baez was short of breath and cleared his throat often during the video, which first appeared online as a Facebook Live video and was later shared on Twitter.
He became emotional near the end of the video, talking about a nurse caring for him who battled COVID-19 herself last year.
“That’s who these people are,” he said, with tears on his cheeks. “Don’t forget them, that’s who these people are. That’s who these people are. They’re risking their lives for us every day. I thank each one of them when they come in.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2021 at 5:37 PM with the headline "WRAL reporter Gilbert Baez hospitalized with COVID-19, shares video from bed."
