A grieving widow buried her husband and only child together after they died from coronavirus just three days apart, reports mirror.co.uk.
Sandy Brown wore a bedazzled mask over her nose and mouth as she said her final goodbyes in a moment that was broadcast to family and friends on Facebook Live.
As she stood in front of the coffins of her husband Freddie Brown Jnr, 59, and son Freddie Brown III, 20, she said: “My two men are gone. I am standing here in the strength of the Lord, not no strength of my own.”
She placed a purple teddy bear in each coffin, and her son’s was draped in an American football shirt for Michigan State, the university where he was due to begin studying this autumn.
Very few mourners were allowed inside the funeral home in Grand Blanc, Michigan, due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Dozens of mourners gathered outside to pay tribute to the father and son last Friday, WWMT reported.
At the cemetery, the mourners weren’t allowed to leave their cars.
Mrs Brown watched through a car window as her husband and son were buried.
Freddie Brown Jnr, a retired produce clerk and church elder who had a kidney transplant eight years ago, died first last week after battling coronavirus since mid-March.
He was on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma.
The last time he spoke to his wife, the Detroit News reported, he told her by phone: “Calm down. I’ll be fine. It will just be a few days.”
After he died, hospital staff let her in to see him, but she had to wear a mask, gloves, gown and glasses to protect herself from the virus.
A day later, Freddie, who had asthma, III came down with a fever and a cough.
He was taken to the same hospital the next day and feared would die as well as he lay in an intensive care unit bed.
Estate agent Mrs Brown tried to ease his fears by chatting and singing to him over FaceTime, but his condition deteriorated and he died three days after his father.
She couldn’t be with her husband of 35 years or her son in their final moments and she wasn’t able to give them the funeral they deserved due to the highly contagious virus.
Her son was her “miracle” child – she became pregnant at 40 after two miscarriages made her give up on her dream of having kids.
She is now alone after their deaths.
The devastated widow said: “There’s not even a word created to describe my pain. It’s unimaginable.
“In three days, I lost my husband and son to an ugly plague. I watched my son go from completely well and whole and happy to being gone in three days.”
Mrs Brown had contact with her husband and son when they were contagious, but she has shown no symptoms of the disease.
The US is suffering the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, with more than 560,000 confirmed cases as of Monday morning.
The country’s death toll is more than 22,000.
The state of Michigan has emerged as one of the hotspots, with more than 23,000 confirmed cases and 1,300 deaths.
About 2,000 deaths a day were reported nationwide for the last four days in a row, the largest number in and around New York City.
Experts have said that African Americans are at a higher risk for coronavirus due to a number of factors, citing statistics from cities and states where black people accounted for more than 70 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths.
African Americans are more likely to have preexisting medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, they lack access to healthcare and have lower levels of insurance coverage, they are more likely to work in unstable jobs and have lower incomes, and they are more likely to live in crowded urban counties, CNN reported.
Last week, President Donald Trump acknowledged the trend and said “we’re doing everything in our power to address this challenge”.
Dr Camara Phyllis Jones, a family GP and epidemiologist, told CNN: “What’s happening is black folks are getting infected more because they are exposed more, and once infected they’re dying more because they have their bodies – our bodies – have born the burden of chronic disinvestment (and) active neglect of the community.
“When I look at it is because of structural racism, which puts us in the forward facing jobs so that we are exposed and less valued and don’t have the protection that we need.”
In the UK, many of the roughly 40 NHS workers who have died after contracting coronavirus were from a black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background.
