Died of COVID-19
USA Today
May 5, 2020
The Georgia town of Albany, a coronavirus epicenter, isn't ready to reopen. There's still too much grief, uncertainty
ALBANY, Ga. — For Elaine Williams, coronavirus couldn’t be more personal.
She watched her son take his last breath April 3 over a cellphone screen, two days after he tested positive at a hospital two hours away from home. Five days later, she buried 38-year-old Kenya Williams at a memorial service with only six chairs allowed — one for herself and five for immediate family.
Every day her phone rings with news of another friend, another neighbor, another community pillar dying from COVID-19, the disease delivered by the virus. And late last month, Williams learned she too tested positive, though she had no major symptoms.
“It is all so disturbing to me," said Williams, 61. “Every time I look on TV and see those numbers, I'm like, 'My baby is in that number.'"
Williams' grief is mirrored by many in this small, mostly black rural town in southwest Georgia about three hours from Atlanta. Albany became a virus epicenter in April, ranking along with New York City and New Orleans for most deaths per capita from coronavirus.
Williams, meanwhile, is urging her neighbors to stay home so others are spared the pain she has endured losing her son.
Williams still doesn't know how Kenya, who was born with Down syndrome, contracted coronavirus. The only public place they visited in Albany was Sam's Club on March 12.
She misses his forehead kisses, his gentle voice calling her "my dear" and the sound of him singing in his bedroom while blaring Frankie Beverly & Maze songs.
“Just because you haven’t lost anybody doesn’t mean that you won't,” Williams warned. "If you can’t sit still to save your own life, save somebody else's."
USA Today
May 5, 2020
The Georgia town of Albany, a coronavirus epicenter, isn't ready to reopen. There's still too much grief, uncertainty
ALBANY, Ga. — For Elaine Williams, coronavirus couldn’t be more personal.
She watched her son take his last breath April 3 over a cellphone screen, two days after he tested positive at a hospital two hours away from home. Five days later, she buried 38-year-old Kenya Williams at a memorial service with only six chairs allowed — one for herself and five for immediate family.
Every day her phone rings with news of another friend, another neighbor, another community pillar dying from COVID-19, the disease delivered by the virus. And late last month, Williams learned she too tested positive, though she had no major symptoms.
“It is all so disturbing to me," said Williams, 61. “Every time I look on TV and see those numbers, I'm like, 'My baby is in that number.'"
Williams' grief is mirrored by many in this small, mostly black rural town in southwest Georgia about three hours from Atlanta. Albany became a virus epicenter in April, ranking along with New York City and New Orleans for most deaths per capita from coronavirus.
Williams, meanwhile, is urging her neighbors to stay home so others are spared the pain she has endured losing her son.
Williams still doesn't know how Kenya, who was born with Down syndrome, contracted coronavirus. The only public place they visited in Albany was Sam's Club on March 12.
She misses his forehead kisses, his gentle voice calling her "my dear" and the sound of him singing in his bedroom while blaring Frankie Beverly & Maze songs.
“Just because you haven’t lost anybody doesn’t mean that you won't,” Williams warned. "If you can’t sit still to save your own life, save somebody else's."
Died of COVID-19
USA Today
May 5, 2020
The Georgia town of Albany, a coronavirus epicenter, isn't ready to reopen. There's still too much grief, uncertainty
ALBANY, Ga. — For Elaine Williams, coronavirus couldn’t be more personal.
She watched her son take his last breath April 3 over a cellphone screen, two days after he tested positive at a hospital two hours away from home. Five days later, she buried 38-year-old Kenya Williams at a memorial service with only six chairs allowed — one for herself and five for immediate family.
Every day her phone rings with news of another friend, another neighbor, another community pillar dying from COVID-19, the disease delivered by the virus. And late last month, Williams learned she too tested positive, though she had no major symptoms.
“It is all so disturbing to me," said Williams, 61. “Every time I look on TV and see those numbers, I'm like, 'My baby is in that number.'"
Williams' grief is mirrored by many in this small, mostly black rural town in southwest Georgia about three hours from Atlanta. Albany became a virus epicenter in April, ranking along with New York City and New Orleans for most deaths per capita from coronavirus.
Williams, meanwhile, is urging her neighbors to stay home so others are spared the pain she has endured losing her son.
Williams still doesn't know how Kenya, who was born with Down syndrome, contracted coronavirus. The only public place they visited in Albany was Sam's Club on March 12.
She misses his forehead kisses, his gentle voice calling her "my dear" and the sound of him singing in his bedroom while blaring Frankie Beverly & Maze songs.
“Just because you haven’t lost anybody doesn’t mean that you won't,” Williams warned. "If you can’t sit still to save your own life, save somebody else's."
USA Today
May 5, 2020
The Georgia town of Albany, a coronavirus epicenter, isn't ready to reopen. There's still too much grief, uncertainty
ALBANY, Ga. — For Elaine Williams, coronavirus couldn’t be more personal.
She watched her son take his last breath April 3 over a cellphone screen, two days after he tested positive at a hospital two hours away from home. Five days later, she buried 38-year-old Kenya Williams at a memorial service with only six chairs allowed — one for herself and five for immediate family.
Every day her phone rings with news of another friend, another neighbor, another community pillar dying from COVID-19, the disease delivered by the virus. And late last month, Williams learned she too tested positive, though she had no major symptoms.
“It is all so disturbing to me," said Williams, 61. “Every time I look on TV and see those numbers, I'm like, 'My baby is in that number.'"
Williams' grief is mirrored by many in this small, mostly black rural town in southwest Georgia about three hours from Atlanta. Albany became a virus epicenter in April, ranking along with New York City and New Orleans for most deaths per capita from coronavirus.
Williams, meanwhile, is urging her neighbors to stay home so others are spared the pain she has endured losing her son.
Williams still doesn't know how Kenya, who was born with Down syndrome, contracted coronavirus. The only public place they visited in Albany was Sam's Club on March 12.
She misses his forehead kisses, his gentle voice calling her "my dear" and the sound of him singing in his bedroom while blaring Frankie Beverly & Maze songs.
“Just because you haven’t lost anybody doesn’t mean that you won't,” Williams warned. "If you can’t sit still to save your own life, save somebody else's."
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