#Tennessee doctor gets coronavirus at meeting about controlling its spread

A Tennessee doctor says he became severely ill with a case of coronavirus he caught from attending a meeting about how to prevent the spread of the disease, according to a report.

Dr. Daniel Lewis, the chief medical officer for Greeneville Community Hospital, said he gathered with a small group of colleagues in mid-March about protocols for containing the virus, the Nashville Tennessean reported.

His colleague was suffering at the time from mild cough, which they wrote off at the time as allergies, the outlet reported.

But the same evening, the man developed a fever and soon Lewis also began experiencing one also, the newspaper reported.

Lewis, 42, tested positive for the virus on March 30 then checked himself into the hospital two days later when his symptoms dramatically worsened, the report said.

He was later transferred to a larger hospital with a dedicated COVID-19 unit, where he fought for his life on a ventilator for 10 days.

The doctor finally recovered from the virus and became strong enough to go to a rehabilitation center on May 2.

He has since been released to his home but said he’s still suffering from lingering health issues.

“I absolutely did not die from the virus, and I praise God for that daily,” Lewis told the outlet.

“But I’ve now spent three months of life recovering from the virus with more to go … I will continue to seek care for this in follow up visits probably for the rest of my life.”