Kristin Urquiza, a woman whose father died of Covid-19, delivered one of the most scathing accusations of the U.S. response to the pandemic in the first night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention on Monday, saying that his only privileged condition was “trust Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life.”
Her father Mark Anthony Urquiza, a 65-year-old who voted for Trump in 2016, had seen the president’s urge to reopen the country’s economy and roll back social distancing guidelines. He went to a bar with his friends after Arizona’s stay-at-home order was lifted on May 15, reopening it as one of the first states nationwide, and on June 11, he fell ill. Although he was put on a ventilator to help him breathe, he died of the virus only weeks later.
Urquiza said Monday that her father’s death was emblematic of the way communities of color were disproportionately affected by the virus. According to the Covid Tracking Project, Black Americans and Latinos die 2.4 times and 1.4 times the rate of white people, respectively.
“The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two Americans,” Urquiza said. “The America in which Donald Trump lives and the America in which my father died. Enough is enough. Donald Trump may not have caused the coronavirus, but his dishonesty and irresponsible actions made it so much worse. ”
Kristin Urquiza, whose father, a Trump voter, died at Covid-19: “My father was a healthy 65-year-old. His only pre-existing condition was to trust Donald Trump, and for that he paid with his life. ”#DemConvention pic.twitter.com/Smb4e4oSPZ
– Cameron Peters (@jcameronpeters) August 18, 2020
Urquiza had provided a similarly blowing obituary for her father in the Republic of Arizona who went viral. She blamed his imminent death on the failures of both Trump and the Doug Ducey government, who invited her to the funeral.
Ducey had been trivializing the virus for months, only instructing people to wear mid-June masks. He even claimed in late May that “it’s safe out,” adding “I want to encourage people to go out and about, take a loved one to dinner, go shopping.”
But Ducey did not accept Urquiza at her invitation.
‘His death is due to the invisibility of the politicians who continue with the health of brown bodies due to a clear lack of leadership, refusal to acknowledge the seriousness of this crisis, and inability and unwillingness to take clear and decisive direction to provide on how to minimize risk, ”said Urquiza’s obituary.
About a week after her obituary went live, she received a letter she shared with the Republic of Arizona from Joe Biden, the former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee, expressing his condolences.
“The family ties that strengthen Mark’s life are meant for times like these,” Biden’s letter said. ‘They are meant for you to commit to sharing some of the burdens that are terribly difficult to bear alone.
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