One New York man has felt the impact of the coronavirus particularly hard, after it claimed the life of both his brother and his mother within 24 hours, the New York Post reports. On April 7, Lloyd Torres' 73-year-old mother Lolita died of complications from the coronavirus, and the next day, his 47-year-old brother Louis also lost his life to the virus.
"He was a generous and sensitive soul, who lived life on his terms," Torres wrote of his brother on Facebook. "I will always remember his jokes and his smile, the selfless way he cared for my mom and dad, and most of all, those great times we shared together growing up and figuring out life together as sons of The Iron Hand and our ‘slipper slinging Crazy Mother.’"
Speaking about the devastating loss with the Post, Torres stressed that people should take the pandemic seriously. "For those who are walking around thinking life is still normal, it's not," he explained. "[Louis] was aching, not feeling well, really had a hard time going to the subway and back home. He started to have difficulty breathing, couldn’t keep food down."
Due to the pressure COVID-19 has put on medical and funeral services across the country, Torres said that he has had difficulty laying his family to rest. "We called around and were met with a very strange responses from 'No, we can't' to 'It's impossible' to 'You have to join a waitlist,'" he added.
In an interview with NBC News, Torres said he hoped that sharing his story would make others realize the "importance of not taking anything for granted."
