Fil-Am legal blog founder David Lat in critical condition in US due to COVID-19 — report

The founder of a legal blog in the US, Filipino-American David Lat, is in critical condition due to COVID-19.

Lat, founder of the legal blog Above the Law, has been hooked to a ventilator at the NYU Langone Hospital in Manhattan, his husband Zachary Baron Shemtob said, according to a report on law.com

Shemtob told law.com on Saturday Lat's "oxygen levels dropped".

Lat, 44, is a former federal prosecutor and author of the novel "Supreme Ambitions".

He graduated from Yale Law School and is a known legal recruiter.

On Twitter on Wednesday, Lat wrote: "Folks, this #CoronavirusOutbreak is no joke. I’ll give you occasional updates, tweeting from “Above the Hospital Bed,” about how serious #COVID19 aka #coronavirus can be. Think of this as #LatsCovid19Journal, my thoughts on #LivingWithCovid."

Folks, this #CoronavirusOutbreak is no joke. I’ll give you occasional updates, tweeting from “Above the Hospital Bed,” about how serious #COVID19 aka #coronavirus can be. Think of this as #LatsCovid19Journal, my thoughts on #LivingWithCovid. [Thread] pic.twitter.com/pFXkAGWu3O

— David Lat (@DavidLat) March 17, 2020

Lat said he has no health conditions aside from exercise-induced asthma, and does not do drugs nor does he drink. He even ran in the NYC Marathon twice and completed the event both times.

However, with COVID-19, "even with oxygen, the simplest tasks are extremely difficult."

Going to the bathroom and eating have become hard for him.

"This morning, this ex-marathoner could barely walk the five feet from the bed to the toilet - and I had to pee as quickly as possible, chest heaving with the labor of breathing, because I was going to collapse if I stood too long. #LatsCovid19Journal #covid19," he wrote.

"I’m usually a fast eater (bad habit, I know). Today it took my 90 minutes to eat my lunch - because I kept getting winded. Who DOES that? I’m so weak, the fork wobbled each time I lifted it to my mouth. #LatsCovid19Journal #COVID19 #CoronavirusOutbreak," Lat added.

"It's been hell. I've had 10 days & counting, with no real improvement, of fever, fatigue, joint aches, chills, cough, respiratory difficulty. I have never been this sick in my entire life. #LatsCovid19Journal," he wrote.

Shemtob told law.com on Saturday that Lat is "not doing great." —KG, GMA News