Former Jaguar Tony Boselli Describes Coronavirus Battle in ICU: 'The Lowest, Scariest Moment'

The former Jaguars OT described his coronavirus battle in the ICU as "the lowest, scariest moment."

Former Jaguars offensive tackle Tony Boselli is the latest sports figure to reveal his diagnosis and battle with the coronavirus amid the pandemic. 

In an interview with The Florida Times-Union, Boselli, 47, detailed how he started experiencing congestion and cold symptoms on March 16 before he woke up two days later "feeling lousier" with a fever. He found out on March 18 that he and his wife Angie had recently been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19, and he promptly went to the Mayo Clinic to be tested.

On March 20, Boselli's test result came back positive for the coronavirus and he was hospitalized due to his severe symptoms.

 "The worst was my second day in ICU when they were upping my oxygen levels. That was probably the lowest, scariest moment," Boselli told The Florida Times-Union. "I had no family around me. I can't remember exactly what the doctor said, something about the machine needing to go to another level for more oxygen if that didn't work.

"Whatever drugs they were giving me, in combination with the oxygen, it got me to where I needed to be. I never had to find out what that next level was."

Boselli said he's still recovering while Angie, who had no fever and did not require hospitalization, has fully healed. He thanked the healthcare workers for taking care of him during his recovery, as well as his friends and the Jaguars organization for dropping off food on the porch of his Jacksonville area home.

The former NFL player urged people to practice social distancing and take restrictive measures during the pandemic.

"Look at me, I was healthy with no issues at all and ended up in ICU," he said. "I can't imagine anyone who has underlying medical issues already having to go through what I did [and surviving]. As all of us look at this coronavirus, you have to look at other people and the impact this could have on them. ...You might be OK, but your neighbor might not be. Try to think of everyone in this situation."

Florida is the latest state to adopt a stay-at-home order, which Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday morning. There are now more than 1,002,150 confirmed cases of the coronavirus globally in at least 181 countries. The U.S. has the most cases in the world with 236,339.