‘I shouldn’t be here’: Oshkosh bar owner in ICU with COVID-19 blames Trump for out-of-control pandemic – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mark Schultz has been hit on both sides of this pandemic.

For six months it was his Oshkosh bar and restaurant, both of which are closed for now afterbeing hammered under state coronavirus restrictions.

Now it is Schultz himself, infected with COVID-19, lying in a hospital intensive care unit, laboring to breathe, unsure of when or whether he'll go home.

"I dont worry much about me, but I got a 10-year-old son and my fiance thats all I care about," he said through tears. "Myfamily is all at home. They are all worried about me. I dont want them to worry about me."

As he spoke by phone, he struggled with short breaths and was interruptedat timesby fits ofcoughs.

"I dont want them to go through this," he toldthe Milwaukee Journal Sentinel."Ihope I get to go home."

Schultz, 64, is the co-owner of Oblio's, a bar in Oshkosh that is beloved by a city that now has the highest rateof COVID-19 infection in the country, according to aNew York Times analysis.

At Oblio's, Schultz said he has three simple rules before people can belly up to the bar: Don't talk about politics. Don't talk about religion. And don't talk about someone's wife.

Now, as hereceives oxygen from a machine,Schultz says he has beenpushed to break thatfirst rule by President Donald Trump.

"I just want to punch him," Schultz said. "I always had to keep my politics to myself, but from where I'msitting now? Those days are over.

"Ishouldn'tbe here."

Trump, he said, should have been more upfront with the public from the beginning about the dangers of the coronavirus,should have acted quicker, promoted wearing face masks. If he had, Schultz believes, maybe the pandemicwould not have struck his community so hard, might not have wound up at his door.

Schultz says he started to feelsick last Friday, the same day the White House revealed Trump tested positive forCOVID-19.

On Monday, Trump told Americans"Don't be afraid of COVID."On Tuesday, Schultz checked into the hospital.

"Im just frustrated with the president the nonchalantnessof this virus," he said. "They should be afraid. It's nothing to mess with."

Schultz thinks it's likely he and his fiance, Sandy Ashenbrenner, caught the virus from his business partner. But he hopes, God willing, it hasn't been passed to his 10-year-old son, who hasn't received his test results yet.

"I couldnt breathe anymore," Schultz said about his decision to go to the hospital. "I couldnt breathe and I had a fever. I had aches and pains. I had headaches I never get headaches.

"Andthe tightness in my chest ..."

After arriving atthe hospital Tuesday,doctors told Schulzhe had developed double pneumonia, affecting both his lungs. He is now in anegative pressure ICU room receiving supplemental oxygen.

At times, Schultzlies on his stomach to help reduce his symptoms and blows into a machine to exercise his lungs. He tries to go without oxygen, but when he does, alarms attached to a blood oxygen monitor ring, then the tubes must go back into his nose.

He said he'sbarely slept in five days.

"I cough or I get the sweats and the chills," Schultz said Thursday. "I just get these hot flashes. I stay hot for hours, then last night when my oxygen thing went off, I couldnt get warm. I couldnt get enough covers on me."

Thursday was the worst night.

"I just can't sleep," he said Friday. "If you can't breathe, you can't sleep."

Schultz is on steroids, Tylenoland blood thinners.He said his oxygen has been more than doubled, and if he continues to need more, his doctor is going to try experimental treatment, including the Ebola drug Remdesivir and convalescent plasma therapy.

Schultz spoke to a Journal Sentinel reporter during what he called a "good spell coughinghard a few times but generally was able to chat.

"This lasts about an hour," he said. "Itcomes and goes and when it comes back, it hits you hard."

His blood oxygen level has at times dipped below 85% normal is at least 95% but generally, he's feeling the same, which he hopes, at least, is not bad news.

"Im just kind of floating along," Schultz said. "The doc says thats better than going the other way."

But Schultz is not sure he's going to leave the hospital. His voice shakes when he talks about his family being at home, worrying about him, but unable to see him.

Ashenbrenner, his fiance, has been battling COVID while their son attends school at home.

She said Friday she's feeling OKbut worried.

"My symptoms are nothing like what hes going through," she said. "Its very scary sometimes I talk to him and he seems a little better. Other times Im very worried hes not going to make it,"

Schultz isdocumenting his time in the hospital through a series of videos taken by phone and shared on YouTube. They're titled "Covid 19 ramblings of a pissed off Armenian."

The first begins with this message, aimed at Ashenbrenner:"Sandra Jean. I don't know if I'm going to make it."

He takes a few breaths.

"This s---- real. I want people to know that."

The videos are part diary and part therapy. Schulz airs his grievancesagainst the president and calls on viewers to support efforts to eliminate racial discrimination and the Black Lives Matter movement. Especially, he calls on them to take the threat of the virus seriously.

"Youve gotta wear masks. You'vegottasocial distance. You'vegotta wash your hands. You've gotta sanitize. You have to follow the rules. They're very simple."

Schultz's newfound activism does not appear partisan just angry.

In March, he hosted an event for Axios co-founder and Oshkosh native Jim VandeHei for a taped interview with Donald Trump Jr. but stayed in the back.

"I wouldn't have done it for anyone else," he said of VandeHei. "I don't like playing politics."

Schultz backs Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' mask mandate but doesn't agree with his orderto require restaurants and bars like his to limit customers to 25% of their capacity. Schultz said business at both his bar and restaurant is down 60%.

"These people do not have a concept of running a business," he said. "Its unbelievably hard right now. ...You'retrying to keep people employed and now I got two places that are closed.

"These people are out of work right now. Theyve got families."

Schultz said Evers' orders are suggesting to the public that the problem is with the service industry: "They put too much blame on bars or restaurants."

But Schultz also wants people to follow the safety rules put forward by Evers and public health experts.

"You've got to follow their guidelines," he said. "People have to feel comfortable going out. I dont blame anybody for not going out.

"I kind of commend it its being safe."

You can find out who your legislators are and how to contact them here.

Contact Molly Beckat molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.

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'I shouldn't be here': Oshkosh bar owner in ICU with COVID-19 blames Trump for out-of-control pandemic - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel