In a matter of days, the Florida family loses two brothers due to coronavirus

Mychaela Francis was at home with her brother, Byron, when she saw that he was struggling to breathe.

Paramedics took him to the Florida Medical Center on June 27. That day he died of the coronavirus. I was 20 years old.

Three days later, the 22-year-old Francis began complaining of headaches and fever, according to his family. Terrified, she insisted that her mother take her to the hospital. She died on July 8, according to the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office, which confirmed that the cause of death for both brothers was Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The death of two young brothers, 11 days apart, has devastated their large family in Lauderhill, Florida. They have also highlighted two troubling events in the coronavirus outbreak: the increase in cases in states like Florida that reopened rapidly, and the increasing number of people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are testing positive for the virus. In Florida, the median age of residents who tested positive dropped to 40, compared to March 65.

There have been at least 369,826 cases of coronavirus in Florida, according to a New York Times database. As of Wednesday morning, at least 5,205 people had died. According to the Florida Department of Health, four children between the ages of 10 and 17 died from the virus.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who has refused to require the use of masks in Florida and once bragged about the low number of cases in the state compared to places like New York, has rejected the idea that hospitals have been overwhelmed by the cases. At a Covid-19 briefing in Tallahassee on Tuesday, he said that across the state, a large number of hospitals and intensive care units had beds available.

“I think we are going to get through it,” he said. “I think we are on the right track.”

On Monday, Mr. DeSantis was interrupted by protesters in Orlando, where he had traveled for a press conference to encourage residents to donate blood.

“You are lying to the public!” the protesters shouted. “You should be ashamed.”

Byron and Mychaela Francis became ill less than two weeks after returning from a family trip to Orlando, according to Darisha Scott, her cousin, who had joined them with her children.

Because state officials had lifted the restrictions, the family felt reasonably safe in leaving Broward County, where masks are mandatory and a curfew has since been established to deal with the pandemic.

“We said, ‘We’re going to get the kids out of the house,'” said Scott, 31. “And then all of this happened.”

The family went to Universal Studios, where masks were required and rides were regularly cleaned. Employees repeatedly passed the hand sanitizer to people waiting in line, Scott said. Mr. Francis did not go to the theme park, his mother told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

But at stores like Walmart, masks were not required at the time, and although Scott said his family members covered their faces when they entered the stores, other customers did not, he said. On Monday, Walmart began requiring customers to wear masks inside its stores.

Scott’s 8-year-old daughter, who has sickle cell disease, started complaining of headaches and fever soon after returning, Scott said. She tested positive for the virus. So, Mrs. Scott said, her cousins ​​got sick.

Francis’s sudden death shook the family, Scott said, but they hoped his sister would recover.

“We were all scared but we tried to be optimistic because we felt that Mychaela caught him early,” he said. “It felt like I had a chance.”

Both brothers had underlying medical problems, such as obesity and asthma, according to the medical examiner’s office. Mrs. Francis also had a chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

The brothers’ mother, Monete Hicks, has had difficulty sleeping since the death of her children, said Tanra Washington, 34, another cousin.

“It is a deadly matter,” he said. “It is not fair to bury a loved one out of other people’s ignorance or insensitivity to this issue.”

Relatives described Ms. Francis as a warm and ambitious woman who worked in Little Caesars and babysat while working to open a clothing and eyelash business. She had called him “Pretty Eternal”.

Mr. Francis, who loved comics and his family called him Big Teddy Bear, also babysat and put his savings in his sister’s business.

The family held a funeral for the brothers on July 17.

Ms. Scott said that the death of her cousins ​​should be a warning to anyone who has resisted wearing a mask or mask.

“I don’t want anyone to experience losing one, let alone two, of their children,” he said. “Take it seriously. If it weren’t for someone else’s health, your family’s health. This is not a game.”

Ms. Scott added: “Consider everyone. We have to share this world with everyone. “

Susan C. Beachy contributed to the investigation.