The toll of the coronavirus on Black communities continues to grow by the day. But one Black family in Alabama has had to deal with an extraordinarily tragic circumstance since the virus made its way to America.
ABC 33/40 reported that Phacethia Posey, her 70-year-old father Billy Ray Woods and her 48-year-old cousin Michael Woods all died from complications related to COVID-19 in just one week. The 51-year-old mother lost her life on April 13 while her father and cousin both passed on April 18.
The family has spoken to multiple news outlets about the tragedy and their confusion over why they have suffered so much from the virus.
"My sister passed away Monday, the 13th. Five days later my father passed and then about an hour later my cousin passed, the same day," Kyra Porter told ABC 33/40.
In an interview with The Gadsden Times, Phacethia's husband, Tyrone Posey, said they used dozens of home remedies once the outbreak appeared to be serious in March. They did everything they read on Google, which included steam sessions and drinks containing elderberry and zinc.
Tyrone said his wife was hospitalized on April 6 and never recovered, dying seven days later.
“To think that she’s gone because of that virus. She just couldn’t get right. She was alone. She really was a good person. She was the type of person. When she left the house, she presented herself well. She didn’t go around and collect a lot of friends,” Tyrone told the local newspaper.
When Phacethia's father and cousin died on Saturday, the entire family got tested, leading to nine positive tests, including Tyrone, Phacethia’s mother Barbara Woods and her sisters Johnjalene Woods and Kyra. Even Kyra's husband Tony contracted the virus.
The Gadsden Times reported that Tyrone's son, Tyrone Posey Jr., was one of the first members of the family to report symptoms of the coronavirus and Phacethia's father Billy Ray was the first to feel so sick that he needed to go to a hospital on March 30.
“I was showing a little symptoms and I went to my mom’s house, she started doctoring on me. I stopped going to work. My symptoms started to get worse. We was staying home and we took it serious and somehow it hit our family like it did and I just want people to know that it is serious. I know that they are going to heaven and I thank God for having them here this long, but they are in a better place now. I’m going to probably wear a mask and gloves for a while, just washing my hands and just all that, and I think the younger crowd for sure needs to take it serious because there is a lot of people out there that has it and doesn’t know it,” Tyrone Jr. told local news outlet WIAT.
Even with so much of their family falling ill, it remained a struggle to get tested. The entire family lives in either Gadsden or Anniston, and Tyrone said in an interview that he believed many people were not taking the virus as seriously as they needed to.
“People aren’t taking this virus seriously. I see people out without masks. They know it’s happening, but they’re not taking it seriously,” Tyrone said.
Every family member is now quarantining at their homes, but in interviews with multiple outlets, they expressed confusion about why their family was hit so hard by the virus.
"We weren't out in malls. We had stopped going to church on Sundays to stay in. We were just at home. I don't know where we contracted it from, which one of us contracted it first. We just simply wanted everybody to get well and come home because we're a close-knit family. We just wanted to get back to life as usually but it'll never be the same. I just want people to take the virus seriously and don't be in such a hurry to get back in public," Kyra told ABC 33/40.
Few of them had the sort of underlying health problems that have caused the virus to take the lives of an inordinate number of Black people, and Kyra told The Gadsden Times that the family did not think they had contact with anyone who was infected.
In a heart-wrenching discussion with AL.com, Tyrone explained how difficult it was for him to not be able to be with his wife in her last moments.
“It was awful. She was alone. We had discussed, if we were hospitalized…she told me to never let her spend the night. For her to spend those seven nights alone was miserable. It was miserable for me and I know it was for her,” Tyrone said.
Multiple family members spoke about how difficult it was to get tested for COVID-19, highlighting an issue millions of Americans have expressed concern about. Despite months of experience with the virus, state governments are still struggling to acquire test kits and tools, leaving them with little recourse as the federal government demands states begin to reopen.
According to The New York Times, only 145,000 people are being tested each day nationally, far fewer than what experts say is needed to truly begin reopening parts of the country. The Alabama Department of Public Health has said that 48,387 coronavirus tests have been conducted in Alabama with 5,231 positive cases as of reporting. Over 150 people in the state have died from the coronavirus.
The family is planning to hold funeral services on Wednesday, April 22.
“I hope that for our family and the loses that we’ve gone through that it would be a lesson learned. I don’t want anyone to ever have to experience what we are going through,” Kyra told WIAT.
