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Abilene Patient Shares His COVID-19 Experience

Malcom Johnson
Malcom Johnson with his family in quarantine.

Malcom Johnson was the 17th patient identified with COVID-19 in Abilene.  Johnson learned he was positive for the virus on April second, while he was being cared for on the COVID-19 floor of Hendrick Medical Center.  The staff had been treating him as though he had the virus even before his results came back.  But he says after he got the positive results doctors added hydroxychloroquine to his medications and he started feeling better.

Johnson says the first clinic doctor he first visited only tested him for flu and strep throat.  But his condition worsened and he ended up at the ER.  After chest x-rays doctors moved him to the COVID-19 unit and finally tested him for the virus. 

Malcom Johnson was released from the hospital on April 4th.  Doctors told him it may take another month to recover from his pneumonia.  But he has finished his COVID-19 medications and says he hasn’t been contagious since his fever broke while he was hospitalized.  Johnson will complete his quarantine tomorrow, and follow up with his doctors on April 29th.

Heather Claborn joined KACU as news director in January 2018. She oversees daily newscast and feature reporting and works with KACU’s news anchors to develop newscasts. She also conducts two-way interviews, reports for newscast and feature stories and maintains the station’s social media and website content. In 2020, Claborn helped staff develop the daily newsletter that is delivered by email.