“COVID-19 is no joke”: Irmo Mayor talks about his fight against the coronavirus

Barry Walker just completed his two weeks of quarantine on Friday

IRMO, S.C. (WOLO) — With President Donald Trump testing positive for COVID-19, one Midlands leader who overcame the virus says the coronavirus is no joke.

A couple of weeks ago, Irmo Mayor Barry Walker found out that his wife had tested positive for COVID-19. Just a few days and a couple test results later, Walker found out that he too had COVID-19.

“My wife was sick for about a week or so, she recovered a lot quicker than me, but she gave it to me, and I was laid out on my bed for a good week or so. For 5 days, I couldn’t eat or taste anything,” Walker said.

Walker said in those two weeks, he also lost ten pounds. Since he lost a sense of smell and taste, he told ABC Columbia that he had several bottles of ginger ale since that was the only thing that went down smoothly for him.

“My energy got zapped because my body was taking all the immune system that I had to fight off the germs that got invaded in my system, but it could have been worse,” Walker said.

In the United States, more than 7 million people, including President Trump, have tested positive for COVID-19. DHEC says at least 144,346 people have tested positive in South Carolina alone.

Several towns and cities across South Carolina, including Irmo, have a mask mandate in place, even though Governor Henry McMaster has not enforced one statewide. DHEC says towns and cities that have mask mandates have actually seen a decline in the number of people who have tested positive. 

Walker does not plan on lifting the town’s mask mandate just yet, saying it’s too risky when the virus is still rampant.

“I’m on the mend, but I don’t want to get reinfected, and I don’t want anyone else to get infected by anybody. I want people to realize this is not a joke, this is not fake news, this is not a hoax, this is real,” Walker said.