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My family and I were unexpectedly faced with the the pandemic. In March 2020, the family could no longer visit our mother because of the pandemic restrictions set forth for healthcare facilities. Our mother was recovering from a UTI and on April the 4, 2020, I called the skilled care facility to check in with the staff. At that time the nurse informed me that mom was asking for some pain medication for her back; however the doctor was coming to check on her progress. Within a 10-minute period the facility called us and informed us that mom was being rushed to the hospital. Visitors were not allowed in the emergency room and within a short period of time, we were informed that mom had COVID-19 and that she had approximately one hour to live. We were told that she was being transported to another room and we were asked to call back once she was settled in her room. When I called her room, mom died at the moment they finished the transportation process and my call was received from the nurse in her room. Mom faced many obstacles throughout life and was exceptionally resilient. She did not have the energy or the stamina to fight his virus. Despite the fact that we know mom enjoyed the constant presence of her children throughout her aging process, we are still tormented by the thought that we could not be with her as her moment of death and her transition to a new life. It became increasingly difficult not having the real opportunity to have a formal funeral where the family could celebrate her life and say goodbye. Mom, we love you and miss you!

My father’s first symptoms started on April 10, 2020 with a strong headache. It then progress to anxiety and gastro symptoms (stomach pain, nauseous). Because my father had a history of anxiety and depression which those started after 9/11. This was all under control, but we initially though his not well-being was due to this as he was showing similar symptoms. After having multiple tele calls with his doctor of many many years, on Wednesday April 22 he started showing symptoms of breathing distress. The same day he was admitted to ER and was in ICU. After 5 days on oxygen mask, and even progressing to getting moved to a less ICU severity level, he started showing breathing distress again on Sunday April 26, and on this same afternoon he was put on a ventilator. He came off the ventilator on Friday May 8, and for three days he was on bipap oxygen mask. Early morning of Monday May 11 for the second time he was put back on the ventilator as his oxygen levels were not keeping up. After 7 days on the ventilator, my great and amazing father gain his wings on Sunday May 17, 2020. He was and still is the patriarch of our entire family. “Your wings were ready, but our hearts our not.”

I found my husband dead on his favorite chair on Dec 13, 2020 after 9 days from COVID-19 battle. Had been seen the day before in the ER but was sent home because he wasn’t sick “enough” yet. I lost my best friend of 40 years.

In March 2020, my husband and I were both hospitalized with COVID-19. My husband passed away from COVID-19 after a week on a ventilator. We had been together for 38 years. I have side effects of losing my hair, breathing issues, and had emergency surgery for intestinal issues (colon ruptured) caused by the COVID-19 and tested positive again at the time of surgery in July. Left the hospital after a week with a colostomy bag and received Home Health Care for another week to receive antibiotics through a pic line 3 times a day due to the infection. I will have surgery again to reconnect my colon as soon as the surge of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 slows down. We were both healthy prior to the COVID-19. My husband was the wage earner. My son had to move home to help me financially so we could keep the house. My income is now about a fourth of what my husband made. I’m dealing with grief, health and financial issues.

My dad was admitted to the hospital on Nov 30, 2020. The next 11 days were a gut-wrenching traumatic rollercoaster ride. My dad was stable one day and struggling the next day. The events that surrounded my dad’s decline are mysterious and there are many inconsistencies between the medical records, the death certificate, and what the doctors told me the night my dad passed away. I’m not only dealing with the passing of my dad, but also dealing with not knowing exactly how he died and the sequence of events leading to his passing. My dad’s life mattered and as his daughter I have a right to know how he died. My dad was a human being and very well loved. He was not a COVID-19 statistic.

My father passed away on April 27th 2020 after a battle with COVID-19. One can not imagine how painful it is not to be with the one you love knowing they didn’t have much longer to live, there was nothing anyone was able to do for him and you needed to say your last goodbyes on the phone. The words will never escape my brain for as long as I live, my actions and words will never escape my husband or my kids as I sat in tears acting like a child begging my husband to do something and pleading with god. It happened with days and so quick to this day none of it makes sense to us. One day he was talking and things were ok and then the next he was in ICU. He was on a breathing tube and then he was taking off the next day. Then we were told he was being transferred to another hospital to start dialysis but he coded twice on the way there. He wasn’t there long when we got the call he became septic and there was nothing else they could do. My family and I just didn’t understand how this could happen, how was it possible. We live in heartache, anger, frustration and pain everyday from this awful thing we call COVID-19. We lost not only my dad but a grandfather, brother, husband and great friend to many.

My wonderful stepdad of 32 yrs past after a 5 week battle with COVID-19. A healthy 76 yr old. He suffered a very lonely 2020 after losing mom in 2019. And he suffered a very lonely, scary 5 weeks. No visitors allowed.

My mom contracted COVID-19 during a hospital visit right before Christmas. She went back into the hospital on 12/29, and we lost her on January 10.

On January 10th, I had to call the paramedics for my COVID-19 positive husband, 21 days later he was gone. I never saw him conscious again. The separation that comes from this virus is debilitating, it creates scars that will never heal.

My papa was not just a number; he was, he is, such a caring and kind soul. Though it was sometimes hard to express his emotions, I know his love for me was greater than anything. He was so funny too! Even when I was upset he always knew how to make me laugh. The king of dad jokes is what I dubbed him. He was always laughing. It began in December. He thought it was just a cold until his test came back positive. When it became too difficult to breathe he went to the hospital. In January, he was transferred to a rehabilitation center and he was optimistic. He had to stay there a little longer, he said, but soon he would go home. Then things changed and his health began to rapidly decline. He was put on the ventilator and a few days later I was given the choice to let him go hooked up to all those machines, or to let him go peacefully and comfortably without them. I knew he wouldn’t want to suffer that way anymore. “Please make him comfortable.” I was able to talk to him one more time through zoom, but I didn’t want my last words to him to be goodbye. So I just kept telling him how much I love him and that it was ok to rest now. And as I spoke I saw the doctor, without his glove, gently stroke my dad’s forehead and hair. That moment, that gesture, was so beautiful to me, so incredibly compassionate and human, I am forever grateful. My papa was a beautiful light and I know he’ll always be with me.