Winnebago County Board Chairman Joe Chiarelli urges physicians to make patients aware of all treatment options for COVID-19 available during a news conference Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, at the Winnebago County Health Department. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Winnebago County Board Chairman Joe Chiarelli felt no symptoms of COVID-19 when he tested positive for the virus on Nov. 3.

Seven days later he was paralyzed from his legs, struggling to breathe and coughing up blood.

“It goes from bad to ugly very quickly,” he said Monday standing from a podium during a news conference at the Winnebago County Health Department. “If it wasn’t for my wife, who found me on the bedroom floor, I probably would not be here today to speak of this.”

Chiarelli shared more details about his illness as part of a push for physicians to make sure patients are aware of treatments available, such as monoclonal antibodies, if they test positive for the virus. Chiarelli, who previously had a bout with COVID-19 in October 2020, was fully vaccinated in February before he become a breakthrough case.

“I call on all the physicians in our community to be more proactive and informative about all the early treatment solutions and options available to their patients,” he said. “Speed does matter. Early treatments work, and they do matter. All of our preventative measures matter.”

“If I had gotten that antibody while I was asymptomatic, I’m sure I would not have ended up in the hospital: paralyzed, coughing up blood,” he said.

The laboratory-made antibody is engineered to mimic naturally occurring antibodies to fight off the coronavirus, but it has to be administered early in order to be effective. It’s not a treatment for people already hospitalized.

The Winnebago County Health Department has administered 173 doses of monoclonal antibodies since it began offering the treatment in December. You can register HERE for the possible monoclonal antibodies through health department.

However, Winnebago County Health Department Administrator Sandra Martell said the current treatment will have to change once omicron becomes the predominant variant of the coronavirus spreading locally. So far, she said, delta is driving the majority of the cases.

“We’re running out of time because the REGEN-COV that we’re using in our clinic right now is not effective against omicron,” she said. “So we are in a race against time and we need the community’s support.”

Once omicron becomes the predominant variant, the department will have to switch tactics, she said.

“The next line of drugs are those administered by IV, so they have to come through an infusion site.”

Martell, as she has done for months, urged people to get vaccinated. She about 90% of people who are hospitalized with COVID are not fully vaccinated.

Chiarelli said he still requires physical therapy as he works to regain his mobility. He said he saw three people die from COVID while he was hospitalized at  UW Health SwedishAmerican Hospital.

“I ended up in the hospital for five days, on my back, begging for my life,” he said. “Thank God for our doctors and our nurses, who are full of anxiety and full of stress, that they were able to do their jobs to help me and others on that COVID-19 floor.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.