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NFL Network Producer Tells Of His Harrowing And Ongoing Recovery From COVID-19

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Despite all the sad news, CBS2 has been reporting some uplifting stories.

On Tuesday, reporter Jenna DeAngelis heard from another survivor. He has battling COVID-19 for a month and is still on the mend. He's urging people to take his story to heart and to take the virus seriously.

Gasping for air, four days after experiencing his first high fever, Jason Hartelius said it only got worse.

"It felt like I was drowning, I was under water, and came up to the surface gasping for air and trying to do anything I could to catch my breath and just when I thought I was catching it I got pulled under water again," Hartelius said.

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Following more breathless and sleepless nights during a week struggling at home, the 42-year-old New Jersey native finally went to the hospital in Pennsylvania, where he now lives.

"There definitely was a point where I was scared I might not make it out," Hartelius said.

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

After three days in a hospital bed, he was able to go home to his own. That's where he found out, 10 days after being tested, he was positive, as expected.

"People don't realize how hard it is to take care of someone that you can't see or touch," Hartelius said.

His worried wife put a baby monitor in the bedroom and left food at the door. Out of fear she would pick up the germs, the dishes piled up in the bathroom.

"Getting from the bed, which is a mess, to the bathroom right there, I'm completely out of breath," Hartelius said.

CORONAVIRUS: NY Health Dept. | NY Call 1-(888)-364-3065 | NYC Health Dept. | NYC Call 311, Text COVID to 692692 | NJ COVID-19 Info Hub | NJ Call 1-(800)-222-1222 or 211, Text NJCOVID to 898211 | CT Health Dept. | CT Call 211 | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A very different contrast from what he's used to chasing sports as an NFL Network producer was spending 25 days in isolation.

"It's a long time to be alone and it's a long time to be wondering how this is all going to end," Hartelius said. "It was like Tom Hanks in 'Cast Away.' You're just there by yourself."

Until the moment he left the bedroom for the first time and doing a simple task -- walking down the stairs, which for weeks was impossible.

"It's like the world had passed me by for three weeks," he said.

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After a little more than a month he finally left the house and drove through a park.

"I've never seen it this crowded ever. Ever," Hartelius said, later adding, "I might have seen two or three masks and that was it. That's what's so frustrating. So many people still don't think this can happen to them."

He shared his story to show it can, hoping others take this seriously so they don't have their own story to share.

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