They misplaced family members to COVID. Right here is her response to Trump’s prognosis

On March 25, 21-year-old John Paul Caire went upstairs to test on his mom Terese, a beloved elementary faculty instructor from La Canada Flintridge who was severely in poor health with COVID-19. He discovered his mom in a chair, her lips and fingers blue, her respiratory strained.

His sister Maria, 22, was downstairs taking care of her sick father and calling a nurse for recommendation.

“Take her to the emergency room instantly,” Maria was informed.

John Paul, a university baseball participant, knew his mom was too weak to make it downstairs on her personal.

“She could not stand up,” stated John Paul. “She stated give me a minute, give me a minute and I will stand up. She stated it repeatedly and it actually did not make any sense.”

He put his mom on his shoulder and carried her down the steps. Though Terese’s father, John, was terminally in poor health, he did not need his son or daughter to take the possibility to get sick by driving their mom to the emergency room. The brother and sister had been themselves COVID optimistic with milder signs. So John drove his spouse to the Verdugo Hills emergency room and she or he was taken to Keck Medical Heart in extreme situation.

For weeks Terese, who was pleased with her Greek heritage, cherished educating, dancing and cooking dinner for her household, fought for her life within the hospital. Twice she gave the impression to be recovering and the household thought she may make it dwelling. However a few month after the hospitalization, she was gone, simply 57 years previous.

The Caires had been amongst a number of individuals I contacted who misplaced family members to COVID-19, solely to see the President reject recommendation from public well being specialists and act as a figurehead for individuals who defiantly refused To put on masks or hold a protected away from others.

For John Paul Caire, the president’s rosy proclamations of the pandemic throughout his mom’s sickness had been sufficient. Within the midst of his grief, shortly after his mom’s demise, John Paul Caire noticed social media posts from two pals that appeared to replicate the president’s views.

“It is a joke that solely impacts previous individuals,” wrote one among them. “Solely 6% of COVID deaths had been brought about solely by COVID. That is solely 11,000 deaths. It isn’t value closing our nation … “

“My entire household had it,” replied John Paul. “My mom died from it. You misunderstand the CDC knowledge. There are practically 200,000 deaths from COVID and nobody is aware of who it’s going to have an effect on till it does. It is not a joke. I’d watch out what you say “

“[Look] Brother, I’ve prayed for you and your loved ones, ”replied the good friend. “I had it too. However on the finish of the day the survival charge is 99%. You do not shut a rustic for it. “

It is not simply heartless and clueless. It is usually a very good instance of the type of false dichotomy that the president and others characterize on his group. It has by no means been simpler to decide on between opening and shutting. Slightly, it’s about permitting for a gradual reopening by taking precautions and respecting the well being of others.

President Trump “made individuals assume it would not have an effect on them,” stated John Paul. And after the president defied stable medical recommendation concerning masks and distancing, it appeared to John Paul solely a matter of time earlier than the president paid the value.

And what did he assume when he heard that the President was sick? “I imply, I wasn’t stunned,” he stated. So many individuals assume it would not have an effect on them. “However look what it did to us.”

And – after the demise toll surpasses 200,000 – what it has executed to 1000’s of households.

Inglewood-based Tony Wafford misplaced 4 family members to COVID-19 in per week in early Might. It was taped to the TV on Friday as a helicopter waited within the White Home to take President Trump to the hospital.

“Generally the universe can get your consideration,” Wafford stated of the information that Trump examined optimistic after months of downplaying the coronavirus risk.

Wafford stated there have been instances previously few months when it occurred to him that if Trump acquired sick, the president may lastly “have the ability to see the legitimacy of it” and within the public curiosity, not his personal to behave. However as a black man who misplaced his brother, his spouse’s brother and two nephews, Wafford stated he could not want for the illness or its unfavourable results on Trump or anybody else.

“I needed to wrestle with my humanity. I believe the man’s not a pleasant individual, ”stated Wafford. “However perhaps as a result of he’s sick, it’s a name to us to return to our greatest selves and to our humanity.”

Simply because the Wafford household grieves and will get alongside, so does the Arleta household of Griselda Nava. Nava, who’s finding out to develop into a nurse, misplaced her mom to COVID-19 in Might after falling in poor health at a care facility in Reseda. Florentina Lopez, who died on the age of 66, had been a seamstress and labored in a slaughterhouse.

Nava, who has been notably cautious since shedding her mom, informed me that she and her husband lately went out to dinner for the primary time in months.

“We ate outdoors and made positive to maintain our distance and keep protected,” stated Nava. “I do not normally exit until I’ve to buy groceries and I am going early within the morning.”

Nava suspects that some individuals did not take the risk severely as a result of they did not lose a cherished one or as a result of they listened to the fallacious messengers. She is betting that the president could have a greater probability of combating the virus than individuals like her mom as a result of he has the absolute best care obtainable.

“I believe they might have medical therapy that we do not have within the regular inhabitants,” Nava stated.

In July, I wrote concerning the lonely campaign of Newport Seashore-based retired faculty instructor Lynn Lorenz who fired letters to the editor in a campaign in opposition to coronavirus deniers. Orange County had develop into a middle of opposition to recommendation on masks and distancing.

It was Lorenz who referred me to the Laguna Seashore ambulance physician Eric Alcouloumre, whose each day Fb posts attempt to get individuals into probably the most well-known methods to restrict the unfold of the lethal virus – wash your palms, hold your distance and put on a masks.

Once I met Alcouloumre on Friday, he stated that given Trump’s reckless conduct, the information of his optimistic check was not shocking.

“I want him no hurt, however it’s not surprising,” stated Alcouloumre. “I do not consider in karma very a lot, however I consider in science, and that was very predictable. He would not put on masks, mingles with individuals, and distances himself from the brightest individuals within the nation who’re serving to us. Each step of the best way he did the fallacious factor. “

steve.lopez@latimes.com