Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow knows the pain of losing a loved one to COVID-19 all too well — her husband, Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, died in December, just five days before he was set to be sworn in to Congress.

Now, as her state is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, driven largely by the highly contagious delta variant, the Republican Congresswoman told her husband’s story as part of an urgent plea for more people in Louisiana to get vaccinated.

“He and I had prayed for weeks prior about the possibility of the vaccine and we were so excited that it was coming out and that it was going to be widely available,” she told CBS News’ David Begnaud in an interview which aired Wednesday. “And he missed it by two weeks.”

Letlow told Begnaud that her husband had no pre-existing conditions. She said that, while driving her husband to the hospital, Luke Letlow cried at the prospect of missing Christmas with his children: Jeremiah, 3, and Jacqueline, 1.

She also recounted that her husband “was having conversations and he was saying goodbye to people” while in the hospital.

“It all happened very quickly,” she said. “He was very aware and cognizant and speaking to people and then he kind of crossed over a threshold, where I started to see the color drain. And that's when it hit me that he might not come home.”

Letlow is telling her husband’s story in the hopes that it will encourage residents in the state to get vaccinated. Approximately 37% of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, according to data from the CDC, one of the lowest rates in the country.

“I would've given anything, I would've given everything for that shot to be available for us,” Letlow said. “Looking back now, and for someone to turn it away, it's heartbreaking to me.”

Letlow won a special election in March of 2021 to replace her late husband, and was sworn in on April 14 of this year. She became the first Republican woman to represent the state of Louisiana in Congress.

Louisiana currently has the nation’s highest case rate, forcing the state’s Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, to reinstate an indoor mask mandate for all residents above 5 years old, regardless of vaccination status.

The state reported 4,778 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, and hit an all-time high of 2,247 people hospitalized with COVID, breaking the previous record of 2,112, which was set Tuesday. More than 98% of those cases are tied to community spread, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. 

Unvaccinated people account for 90% of current COVID hospitalizations in the state, 90% of cases between July 22-28, and 84% of deaths in that timeframe. 

Letlow’s own district, which encompasses part of northern and central Louisiana, is experiencing low vaccination rates. None of Louisiana’s 9 regions has a vaccination rate higher than 48.7%, according to Louisiana Health.

Letlow said that Louisiana residents “don’t want to feel forced into anything, they don’t want to be lectured to” when it comes to vaccines. But she added that when asked what she’d tell people who are on the fence about getting a COVID-19 vaccine, she said that she’d tell her husband’s story.

“My prayer is that not one more person has to lose their life to this virus,” Letlow said. “It is a horrific way to leave this world. I don’t wish it on anyone else.”

Letlow said that when vaccines are available for her young children, she will get them inoculated “on the first day.”

“We have the answer,” she said of vaccines. “Let’s use it.”