The coronavirus pandemic has been around for months now. While it's hit many parts of the country extremely hard, other places have been a bit luckier. But as lockdown restrictions have started to lift, the rates have gone in the wrong direction.
Still, people are getting fatigued by staying at home. For many people, keeping away from family has been the toughest part about the pandemic. It seems like a lot of people are getting more comfortable taking some calculated risks, whether that be having small family gatherings or a night out with close friends. But for one Texas family, a small gathering turned tragic. After getting together, 14 members of the same family all contracted COVID-19. One of them has since died, and another is currently on a ventilator.
Tony Green says when statewide restrictions lifted in June, he organized a family gathering at his home in Dallas. Only about six people attended. But that was enough to contaminate 14 people in their family. Tony says he once believed the pandemic was a hoax and penned an editorial about his harsh lesson in a local newspaper.
It's an incredibly heart-wrenching time for the Green family. The Texas family assumed it was safe to have a small family gathering of around six people — the kind of activity we've been widely told is lower risk. Instead, it turned out to be anything but safe. The family was hard hit by the coronavirus.
Tony told ABC News 8 about what happened: "We're not even really going out. We're just spending time together. Hanging out at the house. Grill, you know." It's a lower-key, lower-risk activity by most standards. Still, it turned out to be too risky.
The virus wasn't just contained to the people who attended the backyard gathering — extended family members contracted it, too. "Everyone has reassured me that it's not my fault, but it's my home," Tony said. "I feel like I'm the host, and even though we don't know who had what, it spread because I had this idea to get together. I'm having a difficult time with that."
Though, of course, no one could have predicted what would happen, the feelings of guilt have to be insurmountable. That's especially true because the family was so incredibly hard hit. While plenty of people have been taking some risks here and there, the way the virus affected this family is hard to believe.
"He started getting sick on June 13," Tony said of his father-in-law. Other relatives were getting sick, too. Tony said he also started to feel off and couldn't sleep. "My partner was sick. My mother and father were sick. And we're like, I hope this isn't what it is," Tony said.
Now Tony's father-in-law is on life support. His father-in-law's mother has died due to the coronavirus. Other family members are still in various stages of recovery, and it seems like the impact on the family is far from over.
"This is not just a virus that's dangerous," Tony said. "It's extremely contagious. For 14 family members to all catch it within a matter of days from one another. You don't want your family in this situation. You don't want to see a loved one imagining in your head, but see them hooked up on life support. See their body just laying there."
Now, even in Tony's grief, he wants to warn others about the dangers of the virus. "I admit traveling deep into the conspiracy trap over COVID-19," he acknowledged in a personal essay on the Dallas Voice. It shows just how much misinformation has been spread about the dangers of the virus. That misinformation has, at many times, proven to be fatal.
Still, for the family, the damage has been done. "You cannot imagine my guilt at having been a denier, carelessly shuffling through this pandemic, making fun of those wearing masks and social distancing," he wrote.
"For those who deny the virus exists or who downplay its severity, let me assure you: The coronavirus is very real and extremely contagious. Before you even know you have it, you've passed it along to your friends, family, coworkers and neighbors."
COVID-19 is an incredibly contagious virus. These stories are absolutely heart-wrenching, but if there is anything to be learned, it's that we all need to stay vigilant and listen to the experts.
For Tony and his family, that was a brutal lesson to learn. But thankfully, they are sharing their story to help others stay safe.
