One D.C. firefighter tested positive for COVID-19 more than a year ago — and he is still being affected.
“Prior to all this I was super fit,” Charles Huebner said. “Heart rates were in the 70s, blood pressure was textbook, 120 over 80. Now, my blood pressure is 160 over 80, and pulse in the 140s.”
Three days after the World Health Organization announced a pandemic, Huebner tested positive for the coronavirus. The firefighter’s symptoms were so bad that he was told he would have to retire. For months, Huebner battled symptoms while taking a high amount of blood pressure medication.
“So I maxed out on a beta blocker. There is no higher dose of a beta blocker that I could take,” Huebner said.
Then, the firefighter received shocking news in the mail. About four months after getting the virus, Huebner was told he would have to leave the job with little to no compensation.