Former Italian pro Filippo Pozzato is in hospital being treated for severe pneumonia after contracting Covid two weeks ago. Pozzato, who won Milan-San Remo, two stages of the Tour de France and a stage of the Giro d’Italia during his 19-year career, said Covid is not “bullshit” and called himself an “idiot” for being unvaccinated.
The 40-year-old fell ill on October 22 and his condition deteriorated earlier this week, causing him to be treated at San Bortolo hospital in Vincenza. Pozzato has been given oxygen, but is not yet on a ventilator.
“I have severe pneumonia. I am attached to oxygen to open my bronchi, but if I get worse they will put the mask on me,” he told Tuttobici. “I started to feel bad with a bit of a fever: 37 and a half, then 38. I immediately do the swab, it’s Covid. Then I was 39 and a half for almost 10 days.
“Three days ago, my fever went away, but my oxygen saturation plummeted, I went down to 87, then 86, I had oxygen tanks at home, it went to 83, I couldn’t even stand up and they brought me here.”
Pozzato had not been vaccinated and was due to receive his first dose on October 25, but tested positive in the days before. He said he had been an “idiot” for thinking he was strong enough to not need the vaccine.
“Why hadn’t I been vaccinated before? Because I have always felt strong, I have been among people who had Covid and nothing had ever happened. I was an idiot, and I have taken a good beating,” he continued.
“Everyone says that Covid looks like bullshit, but when you take it you understand that it is not at all. I hope to get over this very bad moment as soon as possible. Guys, don’t mess with fire, I’ve already burned myself.”
Back in January, fellow Italian pro Riccardo Riccò, who is serving a lifetime ban and was chucked out of the 2008 Tour de France for testing positive for an EPO variant, said he would not be getting the “who knows what shit” vaccine, during a rant about talk of mandatory vaccines.
23 thoughts on ““Don’t mess with fire, I burned myself”: Unvaccinated Filippo Pozzato hospitalised with severe pneumonia after catching Covid”
Look forward to all those on
Look forward to all those on here who say that fit normal weight individuals have nowt to worry about explaining this one…
Clearly he must have put on
Clearly he must have put on weight since he retired. The only possible explanation.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Oh my. I need to buy popcorn.
stomec wrote:
To bulk up?
Rendel Harris wrote:
Thing is, élite athletes are quite vulnerable to illness. They aren’t really “healthy” individuals. They’ve pushed their bodies to extremes and cyclists, in particular, to quite unhealthy extremes.
Eton Rifle wrote:
That’s a relief, I’ll no longer worry about reducing my weight as it seems to be unhealthy. I’ll just accept being slower up the hills.
I don’t believe anyone has
I don’t believe anyone has said that, but it’s well-established that Obesity is a major risk factor with Covid-2. I’m assuming the Lancet counts as a recognised source for Covid information, please see https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587%2821%2900089-9%2Ffulltext.
“At a BMI of more than 23 kg/m2, we found a linear increase in risk of severe COVID-19 leading to admission to hospital and death, and a linear increase in admission to an ICU across the whole BMI range, which is not attributable to excess risks of related diseases.”
That of course isn’t to say that people who are a healthy weight cannot get a serious case of Covid.
Nigel Garage wrote:
Being serious for a moment, you are right that obesity is a major risk factor with covid, and, of course, for multiple other conditions.
Where you have been consistently wrong, however, is in that thinking that fat-shaming in any way helps address this, when the reality is the complete opposite.
Steve K wrote:
Isn’t asthma also a major problem with Covid?
To my mind, we’d be better off focussing on improving the UK’s air quality to reduce the incidents of asthma (which would be sensible with or without covid). Maybe a renewed focus on building infrastructure for active travel could drastically reduce the number of people driving for short journeys and thus reduce air pollution on busy streets.
Also, by encouraging active travel, maybe some people would improve fitness, health and even reduce obesity?
Surely us asthmatics should
Surely us asthmatics should just take some personal responsibility, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and start breathing more determinedly?
mdavidford wrote:
Have you tried being richer and moving somewhere greener?
mdavidford wrote:
Absolutely. I’m not asthmatic and never have been so I don’t see why anybody else should be, why can’t you people take a leaf out of my book?
mdavidford wrote:
No, you should immediately apply for a TUE and get on the drugs!
hawkinspeter wrote:
Possibly. Alternatively, we could just blame the cyclist in any incident where they are endangered by a motorist and shout “oi fatty, who ate all the pies” at anyone with a BMI over 25.
It’s a toss up, really.
Steve K wrote:
Also the curve for death (and admission) is J shaped and those with a low but still “healthy” BMI actually have an increased risk of death vs some of those classified as overweight, but that does not fit with the narrative being pushed here.
Again, I don’t think anyone
Again, I don’t think anyone mentioned fat shaming per se – however, obese people have some similar externalities to society as smoking, and it’s in the public interest to do something about it – which is very different to shaming.
Nigel Garage wrote:
Absolutely a key public health priority should be to tackle obesity. However, I haven’t seen a single post from you with any constructive suggestions on how to do that, quite the opposite in fact.
Is there a word for a feeling
Is there a word for a feeling beyond schadenfreude, where you are so tired of peoples shit that you can’t even take any joy out of their stupidity?
All the best, hope you make a
All the best, hope you make a safe recovery!
Everyone makes bad choices, it takes bravery to own up. Thanks for using your platform for good.
Isn’t this site willing and
Isn’t this site willing and/or able to delete obvious Grade A anti-vax nutters? I admit that it’s very easy to just ignore his entries as I ignore The Usual Idiot but allowing bog-standard Trumpian Flat-Earth Evolution denying Anti-Vax dimwits to take up so much space ought to be embarrassing.
Sorry for not spotting this
Sorry for not spotting this sooner. Our general feelings are that when it comes to health matters/global pandemics then we’re only happy with comments that quote facts and figures from recognised sources such as the NHS and WHO websites. If you disagree with what they say then that’s fine, but you ‘think’ something rather than you ‘know’ otherwise we’ll delete the comment.
Thanks Jack. Not sure its
Thanks Jack. Not sure its reasonably to expect someone hawk eyed to spot it over the weekend – but thanks for the monday morning tidy up.
Excellent! A firm application
Excellent! A firm application of NutterGone seems to have done the trick.