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‘We are going to lose people’: Local doctor urges people to take virus seriously

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Dr. Crystal Bowe of CaroMont Medicine says that comforting her patients and their families is a passion, even when they have lost someone they love to COVID-19.

“I want them to be healed,” Bowe told Gaston County bureau reporter Ken Lemon.

She said it is draining, and she fears there will be more people to comfort if others don’t take the pandemic seriously.

“Listening to folks who are still denying, still minimizing and saying, ‘Ah come on, doc,’” Bowe said.

Gaston County is one of 10 counties in the state with critical community spread, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

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“We are going to lose people we love this holiday season if we don’t take this seriously,” Bowe said.

Officials said 101 people died from COVID-19 in the six months between April and October.

There have been 71 deaths in the last month. State officials are also concerned about hospital capacity in Gaston County.

>> In the video at the top of this webpage, Bowe’s prayer for the community as she treats and comforts patients.