A man who got coronavirus after attending Winter Party Festival on Miami Beach shared jaw-dropping photos of himself before and after his recovery.
Mike Schultz, a 43-year-old nurse from San Francisco, was 190 pounds pre-coronavirus. Six weeks later, after being in the hospital, in a coma and on a ventilator, he took a photo of himself looking significantly thinner.
"When I first saw myself I was like, wow, I felt like a skeleton," Schultz said.
He flew to Miami the first week in March for the Winter Party Festival, where his boyfriend was one of the DJ's.
Back then, Schultz was aware of coronavirus but at the time wasn't overly concerned.
"It was kinda downplayed a little bit," he said.
A week before, New Orleans went forward with Mardi Gras. Confirmed cases in the country had only just topped 100 -- most of them on the West Coast and not a single one in Miami.
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And while two large festivals in the city would be canceled just days later, Winter Party, six-day music and dancing event, was still on.
"I didn't realize the seriousness of it all," Schultz said.
But at least 38 people who attended the festival would later test positive, and three died, including 67-year-old Thom Carr.
Just before Carr died, his husband said organizers were not to blame.
"In retrospect, we might not have gone, but we were told, it's okay. Go ahead. Live your life," Carr's husband said.
Now after a brush with death, Schultz understands all too well how dangerous it really was.
"I'm just hoping that my before and after picture just shows you that this is serious and can happen to you," he said.
Winter Party organizers and Miami Beach officials say they took steps to ensure safety given what they knew at the time.
