A father and son in Florida died within five weeks of each other from the coronavirus, The Miami Herald reported.
Retired gynecologist and obstetrician Jorge Vallejo, 89, died on June 27, six days after being admitted to Palmetto General Hospital.
His son, 57-year-old Carlos Vallejo, who is also a doctor, was admitted to the same hospital that his father died. Carlos Vallejo, who practiced as an internist, died Aug. 1. After spending 42 days in the intensive care unit at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Fla.
Family members interviewed by the Herald believe Carlos Valleja caught the disease after treating dozens of coronavirus patients, many of whom were elderly and in nursing homes.
Jorge Vallejo and his family were Cuban immigrants, and Jorge Vallejo himself was an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro’s regime. He fled Cuba in 1965 with his wife and children and had a family full of doctors. His other sons, Jorge Velljo Jr. and Freddy Vallejo, became a psychiatrist and a dentist, respectively.
Jorge Vallejo Sr. received national attention in the 1990s when he gave birth to the smallest baby in the American Baby Zascha, who is now 28, weighed less than a pound and was named after her birth in 1992 the “Miracle Baby”.
Then Jorge Vallejo said the delivery made him feel “close to God,” according to the Miami newspaper.
News of Vallejos’ death comes after Florida saw a significant increase in coronavirus cases in late June and July.
Since the case count peaked in mid-July, the state has seen a delay in newly confirmed infections. In particular, Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami have endured some of the worst outbreaks in the state since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Vallejos settled first in Key West and then finally in Hialeah, Fla., An area close to the state’s hot spot.
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