The lingering mental and physical effects of the coronavirus have taken a big toll on CNN host Chris Cuomo.
On his show Monday night, Cuomo expressed exasperation about his progress in the two weeks since he was initially diagnosed with COVID-19 and isolated himself in the basement of his family's home.
"It frustrates me because I can't get out of this basement,'' he said. "I still have this low-grade fever. I can't shake it. And I know everybody tells me it's gradual, it takes time, it's anywhere between 2 to 3 1/2 weeks, but it is maddening to have this little, stupid fever ..."
Cuomo, 49, noted that his breathing has improved, but also expanded on comments from his show last week in which he said he had become "depressed" about his lack of progress while fighting the illness.
"This virus creates emotional illness and creates psychological illness,'' he said. "I'm telling you, it is in my head, not just figuratively in terms of messing with me because you're sick for a long time. It is causing people depression, and it's creating brain fog, and it's creating edginess in people."
He has also previously detailed how he lost 13 pounds in three days at one point, chipped a tooth because he was shivering so hard, endured "scary" chest X-rays, and had a hallucination of his late father, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who died five years ago.
Cuomo, who is the younger brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also weighed in on the discussion about when people should return to work from the stay-at-home guidelines that have been in effect due to the coronavirus.
"I can't beat it," Chris Cuomo said. "I am a metaphor for the country. I'm saying, 'I'm ready to get out of the basement. I'm sick of being sick. I've had it. I want to get back to work.' But I'm not ready, and I don't have a plan to be ready.
"That's where we are right now, and it's like the president's saying, 'No I'm good, get out Chris, go do your job, you're good to go.' I'll get people sick."
Cuomo also worried about the potentially life-altering effects of the illness on some survivors.
"People are having scarred lungs after this where they don't have the same lung capacity afterwards that they did before,'' he said. "We're gonna learn a lot of things, and that's even more reason to make sure that we keep as few people from getting it as possible."