Labor MK hospitalized with COVID: ‘It’s scary, it’s stressful’

18 August 2021, 9:04 pm

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Labor MK Gilad Kariv speaks to Channel 13 news from his hospital bed in the coronavirus ward of Sheba Medical Center, on August 18, 2021. (Screenshot/Channel 13)

Labor MK Gilad Kariv, who is hospitalized in serious condition with the coronavirus, says he struggles to breathe without oxygen.

“It’s scary, it’s stressful,” Kariv tells Channel 13 news in an interview from his hospital room at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer. “It’s hard for me to breath without oxygen.”

Kariv, a Reform rabbi, is 47 years old and fully vaccinated. He says his wife, children and many other relatives — all vaccinated — also tested positive, but his symptoms have been the most severe.

Asked when he expects to return fully to work at the Knesset, where he serves as chair of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, Kariv says he is not sure. “I don’t know yet. It feels like there is damage done,” he says, pointing to his lungs.