CHICAGO — It was the early weeks of the pandemic. A mystery illness was spreading across the Chicago area. And Dr. Sandra McGowan-Watts felt powerless.
She was a family doctor but could do little as her husband and mother-in-law fell ill. Her mother-in-law soon died. Her husband clung to life for a week longer before the virus claimed him too, at age 51.
“I’m a doctor,” she said this month, the pain fresh in her voice. “I’m supposed to be able to fix people and change things, and I can’t even help the person I love the most.”
