CLEVELAND — Laura Cowan has been fighting for domestic violence victims for years, but now the domestic violence advocate is in the fight of her life.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Cowan. She is battling COVID-19.
Last week, Cowan was working when she suddenly got chills and a fever.
“It closes up your chest and it’s difficult to breathe in or out without pain,” said Cowan, who spent three days at the Cleveland Clinic, part of the time in ICU. “It was very scary. A lot of code blues. I was scared, I didn’t want to be a statistic."
“People are losing friends, family and co-workers. People aren’t here who were with us just a couple of weeks ago. People have to take this serious; this isn’t a joke, this is real,” Cowan said.
On Tuesday, Ohio surpassed 500,000 COVID-19 cases.
RELATED: Ohio passes 500,000 total COVID-19 cases after clearing backlog of antigen tests
At the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Rachel Scheraga said hospitalizations are at the highest level since the pandemic started.
“There is a lot of asymptomatic spread which I think is the most serious part,” she said.
Medical experts and government officials have been begging people for months to take the virus seriously. Now, Cowan said it’s time for people to pay attention and take the precautions recommended by health officials.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone in the world. I want people to recognize this is for real,” said Cowan.
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