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'I Was Knocked Down': WeHo Mayor Diagnosed With Coronavirus Talks About Illness, Recovery

WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — West Hollywood Mayor John D'Amico, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, said the illness felt like a very bad flu.

"I'm a bit of a workaholic, so I'm maybe not the best version of how to sit still and be ill, but I was knocked down," he said. "I want to be very clear: I felt terrible."

D'Amico said he had a fever of 100.2 degrees, major body aches and a bad cough. He wrote to his doctor last Tuesday who told him to come in and get tested. D'Amico tested positive the following day.

He said the hardest part was having to email everyone he had been in contact with leading up to testing positive for the virus.

On Monday, when the countywide stay at home order was issued, D'Amico reached out to friends and coworkers he had been in contact with.

"It's complicated to sit down and write an email to a colleague or friend and say, 'You know, I have been exposed to this virus which is very dangerous and at the time I didn't know but now I know.'"

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D'Amico said he was instructed to rest and check his temperature every hour. He said within two to three days his fever went away and he started feeling better.

He said he thinks he contracted the virus from his husband who had attended a work conference in New York where a number of people had been unknowingly infected with the virus. He said his husband has also tested positive.

"You know we're all in this together, and we're not sure how soon it will end, but it will end and it will take all of us to make sure that as few people as possible end up feeling ill, getting sick or going to the hospital," he said.

D'Amico said it is vital for people to stay at home when possible right now to help stop the spread of the virus.

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