Albanian U.S. police show the horror they experienced with the virus: It took me 20 minutes to breathe.

Coronervirus ' pandemic has spared no one, whether physically strong or with existing health problems. A highly affected contingent is also police employees. Eric Celealiaj, a police officer on April 13th, was diagnosed with coronary.

He's just one of many cops affected by the pandemic in New York State and New Jersey, some of whom could not survive the disease. In the interview given to the Voice of America, 33-year-old Albanian-American, relates his experience with the disease, which can bring down as it says, even the healthiest. Altin Celeliaj, works for the law enforcement agency that covers New York and New Jersey, two countries seriously hit by pandemics. The object of his work is anti-terrorism and usually involves little interaction with the public. But at this time of crisis, the mission of police workers has been even broader, exposing them not rarely to people affected by coronarys.

“answered a call for help while I was on duty, helped someone. He said I'm sorry, but I'm in Corleone. I believe I got the virus working. At first, I didn't think much of it because I didn't get too close. I said it wouldn't be anything. Two three days later I began coughing and other symptoms”, police officer Altin Cenoliaj says.

The cough is one of the common symptoms that seem to take time to escape even after recovery. Our interview with Eric is interrupted several times by coughing... but he says he feels a lot better than two weeks ago...

I had a lot of coughs, I could barely speak, and I had pain in my chest. Then the temperature began it was the worst. Especially at night, it got worse. It was hard. When I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, I only needed 20 minutes to breathe. From the 2nd to 13th, I have a little cough now, but I'm much better”, he says.

Eric is not the only one in his department who's been affected by the disease. There are others (colleagues) who are at home like me, who are recovering from”, he says.

This has been a difficult time in many ways for the 33-year-old. More than a month has passed since he lives alone in the home without a pregnant wife living with her parents. In an effort to preserve them from the virus, Eric spent the most difficult days of his illness alone. And it wasn't easy, even for a police officer.

The hardest thing to do is to cross the virus is separate from the family. The bride's pregnant with twins, she's seven months old, she needs to go to the doctor and I'm not there to help her, she's been a month. Parents too are concerned. When I was sick, they would come every day and leave food at the door, but I couldn't get out of bed to get”, Altini adds.

From his experience, New York Police Officer has a message to share. I thought it would be like a normal flu. I said I'm gonna get infected and I'm gonna pass it, it's not a big deal, but it was worse than I thought. I was lucky my wife was in my parents' house and no other person was sick. But it would be bad if it had happened, because she's pregnant with twins and my parents are old. Dad has some health problems. So we need to think not only of ourselves but also about our parents and others. We young people have gone through, but some have not passed, a 34-year-old policeman died a few days ago”, says Altin Celaliaj.

Altin Celeliaj was tested posiv with COVID-19 on April 13th. He says that he has recovered, or so he feels, as his symptoms have waned. But he would like to add an official confirmation to this whole story. Because of the great volume of demand, he says he has failed to renew.

It's already been more than two weeks since the symptoms showed. I was told that it is no longer dangerous to transmit the virus, but I was asked to stay home another week so that it would be safe. I'd like to take the test again to get negative and get out of my mind, because now I'm isolated. I'm nowhere, but they told me they couldn't do it. Answering that I was positive with COVID-19 took me about 9-10 days, if I do the test again, it will require as much, I at 27 have to go back to work”, the police officer says. According to New York Police Department's latest data, about 20 percent of employees have been affected by COVID-19. /voa