Freeholder talks about battle with coronavirus

HAMILTON » Mercer County Freeholder Nina D. Melker is a COVID-19 survivor.

“I feel great,” she told The Trentonian Thursday night, “and I feel like I am blessed because I have been able to recover.”

Melker, a Hamilton Democrat, was hospitalized for several days last month before being discharged March 25, she confirmed.

“I have been home and doing very well,” she said. “I am able to walk around the house. I am actually able to do some work on my computer from home, and I am feeling well.”

Melker began feeling tired during the week of March 16, she said, adding it was not believed to be a symptom for coronavirus disease at that time.

“I had no cough, no fever or no chest pain or problems with my chest,” she said. “I did a telemedicine call with a doctor, and the doctor said, ‘You don’t have any symptoms of coronavirus.’ I had extreme exhaustion. I was very tired. The only reason I went and got checked is because I got a fever.”

Experiencing a high temperature and going to the emergency room March 20 on the advice of another doctor, a chest X-ray “showed signs of coronavirus in my lungs,” Melker said. “I truly did not believe I had this virus. When I went to the ER, I thought they were going to tell me I had the flu. I wasn’t coughing.”

According to the World

Health Organization, “The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don’t feel unwell.”

Melker received oxygen but did not require ventilator assistance during her hospitalization, she said.

And she is thankful for arriving at the hospital when she did. If Melker had arrived at the hospital later rather than sooner, “I don’t know if my lungs would have deteriorated worse,” she said.

As a COVID-19 inpatient, Melker received hydroxychloroquine — a common antimalarial drug — and the antibiotic Zithromax or azithromycin, she said. “I would like to think that medication is having good effects. I believe it had to have helped me, because I got better very quickly being on that medication.”

Melker quarantined herself for a full week after getting discharged from the hospital, she said. “I think I am well out of the contagious stages.”

The freeholder has not been retested for COVID-19.

“They don’t recommend doing a test again,” she said. “I just have to keep an eye on my health. I am following all the requirements they told me to do. I feel good.”

Melker recommends everyone follow the social distancing guidelines as the world battles this global coronavirus pandemic.

“We all have to do this and stick together,” she said, “to get this curve to go down and get people healthy again.”