"This is very, very real" says Houston councilwoman with COVID-19
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston city council member Letitia Plummer, who revealed Monday that she tested positive for COVID-19, encourages people to "stay home."
"We need to be focused on keeping each other healthy," said Plummer in a video call with ABC13. "Stay home, it's really important."
She said her symptoms were diarrhea and vomiting.
"Thursday, Friday, I could not move. I was rolled up in a blanket in my bed. I didn't eat or drink anything. I think I slept for 48 hours," she said.
By Saturday, she said she was so dehydrated, she went to the hospital. By then, she had been tested twice.
On Monday, a nasal swab came back positive for the virus, and Plummer wrote Mayor Sylvester Turner informing him of the positive test.
She also said she will not attend council meetings until her results for the virus return negative.
"I am praying for Council Member Letitia Plummer's speedy recovery as she isolates at home," said Turner.
Councilwoman Plummer, who occupies at-large position four, is a businesswoman and a dentist in the Houston area. She has three sons.
She assured Turner no other family members tested positive for the virus, and said she instructed members of her staff to be tested. Arrangements are being made for all council members and staff to be tested Tuesday.
Plummer said she has taken every precaution since the beginning and still, it wasn't enough.
"Stay home so you don't spread this. This is very, very real. Very real. And the ones that think it's not, at some point someone in your life will be touched by this and it's going to change your full perspective."
Plummer is the first and only elected official in the city of Houston known to have contracted the virus.
