‘Praying for Laura’: Tweet About 30-Year-Old Coronavirus Victim Strikes Chord

A man's tweet requesting prayers for a 30-year-old coronavirus victim went viral Friday, inspiring thousands of tweets with the phrase "Praying for Laura."

I don’t often ask for prayer on here, but my friend Laura from NYC has COVID-19. She has double pneumonia and is in ICU on a ventilator fighting for her life right now. She is only 30. Please pray for her.
— Jonathan Merritt (@JonathanMerritt) March 27, 2020

The man, author Jonathan Merritt, said his friend, whom he identified only as "Laura from NYC," was diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Merritt said Laura is on a ventilator in intensive care "fighting for her life."

"She is only 30," he wrote in his tweet Thursday night. "Please pray for her."

His tweet had upward of 10,000 retweets as of Friday morning and more than 70,000 likes.

In a follow-up tweet Friday morning, Merritt said Laura "was taken by helicopter to a new hospital that has a better ventilator and she made it safely."

"Unfortunately," he wrote, Laura is "totally alone" because no one is allowed near her. "So we are dependent on someone calling her family to receive updates."