The father of one of them was a former 400-meter state champion and cross-country runner with no underlying health conditions, his daughter said.
“His death is due to the carelessness of politicians who continue to endanger the health of brown bodies through a clear lack of leadership, the refusal to acknowledge the severity of this crisis and the inability and unwillingness to give direction clear and decisive on how to minimize risk, “Urquiza said in his father’s obituary.
More than 135,000 people have died in the United States since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University.
In the obituary, Kristin Urquiza said that her father “like so many others, should not have died from Covid-19”.
An invitation to the funeral
“I am writing to invite you to the funeral of my father, Mark Anthony Urquiza. He was one of 88 Arizonans who died on June 30, 2020 from COVID-19. Despite having a large family and many friends, he died alone with an ICU nurse holding his hand, “said the letter.
While there is no state mandate requiring masks in Arizona, Governor Ducey announced on June 17 that he would allow mayors to create their own restriction. Scottsdale was the first to make it mandatory beginning June 19, and other major municipalities, including Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff, issued theirs later.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told CNN last week that she had to “beg in order to implement masking orders.”
“My father was anything but a number; his life mattered,” Uquiza said in the letter to Ducey. “That is why I invite you to his funeral, to witness first-hand the tragedy of a family who mourns our loved one and unable to hug each other in our pain.”
In a statement e-mailed to CNN on Friday, Patrick Ptak, a spokesman for Governor Ducey, said: “Our hearts go out to Mark Anthony Urquiza’s family and loved ones. We know that nothing can completely alleviate the pain associated with his loss, and every loss of this virus is tragic. ” He did not say whether the governor would attend the funeral.
Channeling sadness into action
Urquiza told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on CNN Newsroom on Friday that despite her grief, she and her family are going to channel their sadness at her father’s unnecessary death and use it to help raise awareness of the disparity facing women. people of color in healthcare.
“I think my father had his life stolen,” said the grieving daughter. “In the last three weeks I have had a living nightmare that he was sick and passed away. I knew that if he didn’t speak, who would?”
She and her family are building an Offering, an altar with candles and pictures, to honor her father in the State Capitol building. They are asking anyone else who has lost loved ones to the virus to join their cause by building their own monuments for the dead.
“The best thing I could do to continue fighting for my father was to fight for other families and make it known that these deaths are preventable as long as we focus on a coordinated response that minimizes risk and puts people first,” Urquiza told CNN.
CNN’s Jennifer Henderson and Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.
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