On his phone, came a message from his sister, Jackie:
“It’s terrible to see Mom, communicate with her and know she’s alone. “
On October 5, the president left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being treated for the virus that killed another 230,000 people in the United States, left the White House and got rid of his mask.
“I feel smart!” Trump wrote on Twitter: “Don’t be afraid of COVID. Don’t let him dominate your life. Under the Trump administration, we develop drugs and very intelligent knowledge. I feel bigger than I did 20 years ago!”
Hughes, 53, learned of the tweet after a busy day watching his mother’s condition. He had settled into his bed to follow the news with his nine dogs and a glass of cabernet. , but Hughes terrified.
It’s the same thing you said in the spring, he thought, his mom had believed Trump, he hadn’t paid attention to him, and now he’s in the hospital, not being able to breathe, and you tell other people not to be afraid?
The White House fit into a hot spot and the country was on the brink of a record spike in infections and deaths.
In a polarized country plagued by misinformation and misinformation, other people will disagree with the force of the president’s rhetoric, including in their own families and on their own deathbeds, but for those in the crosshairs of a virus blind to politics The disconnect between what Trump said on October 5 and the daily truth of a choking cough, funeral arrangements, and empty beds may not be more puzzling. The collective feeling of abandonment, even betrayal, develops with a new case, both one and the other. both dead, one and both one and both records. “Unholy” called Hughes.
In Los Angeles, Kenya Alcocer learned of the tweet on television from a hospital while her prematurely born 9-month-old son was evaluated for surgery and constantly became involved in getting COVID-19 due to her baby’s fragile health. had dried up because of the pandemic and had looked for diapers on empty shelves. “It damages my stomach,” he says.
In San Antonio, Gary Sarli saw the tweet three days before the death of his younger brother and called him “exasperating” and “meaningless. “
Ann Zick at her home in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, when she learned what the president had said. In another room, her husband was in poor health because of the virus, which would also leave her unwell a week later.
“Spreading this kind of propaganda will make things worse,” he said.
In Elgin, Illinois, Suzann Johnson overheard it after FaceTiming with her father, who was ventilating at the hospital and may just not respond. She called it “a knife to the heart”. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, her sister heard her and thought, “I want to hit her,” and then, “No, I’m a dentist. I want my hands. “
Greg Gibson huddled in bed with his wife, Cindy, watching MSNBC. He had repainted after 8 days in the hospital, but tiredness still overwhelmed him and he used an inhaler to control the cough.
The news reviewed Trump’s efforts to minimize the virus. In September, Trump insisted that he was “not worried at all” and that it “affected virtually no one. “
Cindy to her husband.
“Congratulations,” he said. “We are anyone. “
Marilyn Blackhawk’s family circle gathered at a church in the Winnebago Reserve to celebrate the life of the 54-year-old grandmother, sang Native American songs, told stories, and prayed.
Blackhawk had died of COVID-19 four days earlier, the same day Trump had said he was afraid.
While Blackhawk was in the hospital, his son, Tony Zavala, never sought to be away, but only his sister Nina can stop at it, because he had already had COVID-19. Zavala, 30, parked her Chevrolet outdoors. the hospital, listening to country music, letting the worry overwhelm him. He didn’t care what idea he might have. He needed to be close to his mother.
Blackhawk has kept the circle of family and friends informed through Facebook.
“I don’t answer, but they gave them back to me,” he wrote on October 1. “Please keep praying. I’m scared. “
His last message came on October 3. ” Objectives: to improve, to leave this large care unit. Get my nails done. “
When the time came, Blackhawk’s youth, however, were allowed to enroll in his name, surrounding his hospital bed. At five o’clock in the afternoon, came the high-pitched tone that everyone had feared. The tears in Blackhawk’s room got stronger.
A week after his mother-in-law’s death, Megan Zavala tweeting at his home in Lincoln, Nebraska, came through another Trump tweet and felt a wave of anger.
“California is going to hell,” the president wrote, “Vote Trump!”
Things had gotten worse. Johnny Lara Gonzales, 82, had developed pneumonia and undergone a lot of treatments.
He used to wear a mask in the store and make jokes about the coronavirus: “I’m also for this COVID,” he told his children.
Hospitalized with the virus in the intensive care unit, he had a new one to say, “Nobody gets out alive. “
He almost died ten years ago when his ex-wife ran him over with his car, the nurses and doctors brought him back at the time, and they did so many times: after stroke, kidney failure, center problems.
In all his contacts with adversity, Gonzales was a fighter, a veteran of the United States Army, and a third-generation Mexican, a father who reached the age of 33, a driving force for buses at the University of Arkansas until his retirement at age 80.
When his lungs swelled so much that they looked like damaged glass, doctors at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center pulled out a fan.
“I want them to be strong, ” he told his children. ” Maybe that’s the way it is.
On October 7, his daughter, Suzann Jonson, 53, saw Trump leave the Oval Office and declare himself cured through an antibody cocktail from a company called Regeneron.
“If you’re in the hospital and you feel bad, we’re going to paint pictures for you to get it and get it for free.
He called the hospital and asked his father to get Trump’s meds. Nurses said she was taking Remdesivir, but that Regeneron’s remedy was not approved by the FDA.
His father died on October 10, thirteen days after receiving COVID-19, three days after Trump promoted a cure that was not legal to have.
His 3 sons and 4 daughters hold in their brains a symbol of their father: Gonzales driving his 1961 red Studebaker, his pride and joy.
“I to take him to heaven, ” he liked to say.
On October 2, Gary Hugh is his mom at the hospital to tell him that Trump also had the virus.
“Well, in smart company, ” said Hughes.
His mom laughed.
“I hope it doesn’t make him too sick,” he says.
“I hope he doesn’t die,” Hughes replied. But I hope you are in ill enough health to perceive the seriousness of the situation. “
Most members of the family circle believe the virus is a hoax and would disappear before the election, Hughes said. During the pandemic, much of his family circle did not have the reputable masks, he would wear them to go to the store or work, but not in the surroundings. your mom or on your farm.
They heard Trump, who said, “This is passing by. “
Hughes begged his mother, “Don’t listen to him. “
On October 13, the circle of relatives made the decision to withdraw it around 5 a. m. At five o’clock in the morning, she left.
Hughes is too numb to cry. He climbed into his Can-Am and walked about a mile to a cliff overlooking the space he shared with his companion, the barns soaking his land and a pond.
On the ground floor, they built a space on the lake for their mother, so that she would have a place of her own when she came to see her, a place to have her coffee and on the pier, overlooking the waves. Hughes looked at her, knowing I’d never see him finished.
Suddenly he felt a wave of pain that he may not have been able to suppress. I was angry at the world. He became enraged with Trump, became enraged with his mom for listening to the president and burst, breaking down the calm, and Hughes screamed and screamed.
Fifteen days after the president told others not to be afraid, Gibson, the “virtual person,” took a day in poor health because he wasn’t feeling well.
When he gave up to prepare his son’s lunch, he entered an uncontrollable cough attack, had fainted for the most of his life, and breathlessly with his lungs broken by COVID-19, hit the ground.
When he ran, his ribs hurt.
His wife watching the polls on an election website.
“I’m hurt, ” said Gibson when he returned to the house to see him.
She assumed that he simply didn’t need her with his purchases.
“No, I’m hurt, ” he said.
The hospital revealed that Gibson had hit his head, fractured his ribs and bled into his brain. He spent three days in intensive care before being sent home to recover.
Trump held election rallies in towns and Pensacola, where thousands of noisy supporters gathered, many dressed in masks.
He called COVID-19 the “China scourge” and said closures were necessary. “I know more than you do, ” he said. ” I had it. “
Another 83,757 instances of COVID-19 were reported on Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University, breaking the record for a day set in July.
“That’s all I hear now, ” said the president to another crowd on Saturday. “That’s all I hear. Turn on the TV: “COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID”. One plane breaks down, another 500 people are dead, they don’t communicate about it. “COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID”. By the way, on November 4th, you might never hear it again.
“We’re turning the corner,” Trump said Sunday in New Hampshire.
The virus affected Vice President Mike Pence’s staff, infecting at least five. Pence continued his crusade and Trump continued to perform rallies, more than one a day.
“Just around the corner, ” said Trump in Pennsylvania. COVID COVID COVID, ” he said in Arizona. ” Around the corner,” he said Thursday in Tampa when Florida surpassed 800,000 for the first time.
The country has kept records: on Thursday, the number of instances reached 88,521, Americans were in poor health faster than one consistent with the latter.
In Tennessee, away from the countryside and from the debates, Hughes buried his mother, but his pastor was unable to preside. He’s in poor health with COVID-19.
In a church fraternity room, Hughes greeted members of his family circle, thanking them for coming and sat down with an uncle to remember. Still, Hughes’ uncle had not replaced his brain with the virus that had claimed his sister’s life.
“This is all a hoax, ” he said. He sent from China
Hughes looked at him perplexed. We just buried Mom,” she says. It’s just the flu. “
His uncle gave up and left without saying a word.
Contributor: Jayme Fraser
This story produced in partnership with Indiana University School of Media.