Chris Cuomo Says He 'Got a Little Cocky' After Going 60 Hours Without a Fever Amid COVID-19 Battle

Chris Cuomo is learning the hard way that nothing is over until it's truly over.

The CNN newsman spoke with his friend and colleague Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Tuesday's Cuomo Prime Time, and once again opened up about his health and why it's important not to underestimate his illness.

While discussing the CDC guidelines suggesting that someone who has been battling COVID-19 can come out of self-quarantine if they've gone 72 hours without a fever, and without using fever-reducing medication, Gupta asked if Cuomo has managed to reach that 72-hour mark.

"No. I got close. I got to 60," Cuomo said, sounding disappointed. "And I have to be honest, I got a little cocky."

"I started thinking about, 'Oh, great! I can't wait, I want to get retested. Then I'm going to do this and do that,'" Cuomo recalled. "That's not the way COVID works. The more I learn anecdotally and from the clinicians who are treating it, it comes in waves."

"I went off Tylenol and my fever was bouncing around, but it was within the range of normal for 60 hours," he continued. "Then the fever came back and I had 101 for about two hours or so. Then back down."

The 49-year-old journalist -- who tested positive for COVID-19 just over two weeks ago, and has been battling the illness while self-isolating in his basement while still hosting his nightly CNN news talk show -- said he was currently feeling better.

"Right now, I'm doing OK. I'm sweating, but that's kind of par for the course," he explained. "But my breathing is much better. So I'm still super lucky, super blessed, compared to so many of the other people I've heard about. But I just gotta start again. That's how it goes. My body's not ready until it's ready and all I know is that I'm going to throw everything I can at this."

Cuomo said that he's "just got to chill and let my body do what it does," but admitted that going 60 hours without a fever, only to get his hopes dashed, "stung a little bit."

"But just made me remember that nothing comes for free," he added.

Check out the video below to hear more from the TV journalist about how bad things got during the worst of his illness.

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