Mesquite mayor suffers a tough week with COVID-19

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite mayor fell ill suddenly last week and was diagnosed with COVID-19. Mayor Al Litman went to the emergency room with acute symptoms on Sunday night, September 27 and received a rapid response test for COVID-19 which came back positive.

Litman’s wife Phyllis was also tested and received positive results for COVID-19. Her symptoms ended up being much less severe than those of the mayor.

“It is a really weird illness,” said Litman in a telephone interview with The Progress on Friday afternoon. “It hit me like a ton of bricks. In the beginning it was just fatigue. I never felt so tired in my whole life. Then the coughing started.”

The cough quickly became severe. Litman said that by Sunday he was suffering fits of uncontrolled coughing that doubled him over and made it difficult to breathe.

Hearing of his illness, a neighbor, who is a respiratory therapist, loaned Litman a machine that would monitor his blood oxygen levels. With normal blood oxygen levels at around 97 percent, Litman’s had dropped into the mid 80s on Sunday. That dangerous condition is what sent him to the Mesa View Regional Hospital (MVRH) Emergency Room on Sunday.

“I had been so careful, wearing masks all the time and following the health guidelines as much as I could, I couldn’t imagine it could be COVID!” Litman said. “I thought that I must have influenza because I hadn’t got the flu shot yet.”

Litman was given tests for both COVID-19 and the flu. Only the COVID-19 test came back positive.

The ER staff gave Litman some steroid treatments and put him on oxygen for a while. This seemed to stabilize his condition so that his oxygen levels came back up, Litman said. Then they sent him back home where he would be more comfortable.

But by Tuesday night, Litman’s oxygen levels were way down again. This time, the MVRH staff opted to admit him into the hospital. At that point, Litman was put on a course of even more extensive treatment.

He was placed in a special isolation unit at the hospital, prepared especially for COVID patients. Hospital staff monitored Litman’s vital signs throughout the night.

Litman said that he was given injections of the experimental drug Remdesivir, the same treatment given to President Donald Trump this week at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington. The drug prevents the virus from producing a particular enzyme necessary for it to replicate itself. Once this happens, the virus is reportedly no longer able to spread within the body.

In addition, Litman received a transfusion of convalescent plasma which contained antibodies of the virus. And he received steroid injections to open up his airways.

The treatments had a positive effect. By Wednesday, Litman’s oxygen levels had returned back to normal and he was released and sent home to finish his recovery.

Litman spoke highly of the care he was given at Mesa View.

“I can’t commend their care enough,” he said. “The hospital staff was on top of it the whole time. Without their treatment, I’m afraid I might be in rough shape.”

In the days which followed, Litman said he was just taking it easy.

“I still have the cough, but it is getting a little better every day,” Litman said on Friday. “I can’t go out, obviously. I can’t do much without getting tired. So I just get a lot of rest.”

Litman said that his wife has been taking good care of him. Phyllis has suffered from a cough, but otherwise she is doing well, he said.

“She follows me around the house with a spray bottle disinfecting everything I touch,” Litman said.

While his illness has put the political campaign on hold for a week or two, Litman said that he is still able to fulfill the essential functions of his role as mayor.

“If people understood what I do they would know that it is not rocket science,” Litman said. “I am not meeting with world leaders or anything. If there is a document that needs to be signed, my assistant will bring it to me and I can do that.”

Litman said that the mayor is not really essential to the day-to-day operations of the city. “City Manager Aaron Baker handles all of that and he is just fine,” Litman said. “Things are running as smoothly as ever, I can assure you.”

Litman was a bit disappointed that he will be missing the Tech Review meeting for City Council on Tuesday afternoon this week. It will be the first City Council meeting that he has ever missed, due to illness, since he began his service on the Council in 2011.

“I am usually very healthy and a rarely ever get sick,” he said.

Litman will remain in quarantine through the 14 day period after his symptoms began. He plans to be tested again at that time to ensure the results are negative before he breaks his quarantine.

The mayor encouraged the residents of Mesquite to remain “extra vigilant” in adhering to health safety protocols in the coming days and weeks.

“The state-wide restrictions are finally starting to loosen up, but I’d just urge people to keep your guard up,” Litman said. “Keep wearing masks, keep social distancing and keep protecting yourselves. This thing is weird and it scares me. You just don’t know when you’ll be exposed to it.”