Patricia Frieson was more than Illinois’ 1st COVID-19 death. She was their sister.
Her death Monday was a blow to her large South Side family — a family that has journeyed through the stark reality of a loved one dying in quarantine
When she was 11, her parents, Dan and Effie Frieson, who’d migrated to Chicago from Arkansas in the late ’50s, sent Patricia Frieson to live down South.
Her grandfather had died, and she was to live with her grandmother in Helena, Ark.
It’s where she’d grow up, finish high school at Barton High in Barton, Ark., go on to attend the nursing program at Phillips Community College there and receive her nursing license.
Frieson, sixth in a family of nine siblings — the others raised in Bronzeville before the family moved to a four-flat in AuburnGresham in the mid-70s — passed away Monday at age 61, survived by seven siblings, and her seven beloved nieces and nephews.
The world now knows Frieson as the first person to die of the novel coronavirus in Illinois.
But while her name draws this tragic note in history, one South Side family, in which she played a central role — her apartment in that four-flat the focal point of any gathering — mourns.
“All of this is overwhelming,” said her brother, Anthony Frieson, 57, who spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday.
“Being the first to die of it here is just a barrier to our grieving. It could have been the 10th, doesn’t matter. The whole point is, she’s not here anymore,” he said, as the family wrestled with the stark realities of death from COVID-19, which include:
When a family member becomes ill — before COVID-19 is suspected or diagnosed — the family rallies around them — visiting, hugging, loving. Exposure is a key issue.
When a family member is diagnosed and quarantined at a health care facility, family can
rally around them, cannot visit, cannot be at the deathbed if and when they die.
If a family member passes, funerals and other services become an issue. Large gatherings are prohibited, and family out of town will be challenged by travel restrictions.
“We weren’t allowed to come to the hospital to see Pat, which is the painful part about all this. We understand why,” said her brother.
“But that’s the really difficult thing at the end — the isolation. You end up with the sadness of not being able to be with her when she passes, the sadness of it seeming like they are alone, when you know they are not.”
With a large extended family, Patricia Frieson had never been alone.
Her first nursing job had been at a nursing home, followed by a hospital in West Helena, Ark., then a regional hospital across the river in Mississippi. She’d then turned to travel nursing, which took her to hospitals across the South for varying periods of time, later returning to the hospital in Mississippi to be near her grandmother.
“Pat cared for my grandmother up until her death in 1988,” her brother said.
“My Dad passed in 1989, and Pat moved back to Chicago in the late ’90s to care for my Mom until she passed in 2002. It was around that time her own physical ailments — severe asthma, lymphedema and other issues — put her on disability,” he said.
“She couldn’t get around as much, but she was quite amazing in maintaining her independence. Every once in a while, her asthma would require medical treatment, and she’d be admitted to the hospital, get recalibrated and come out good as new.”
It seemed she was headed for that familiar routine when her asthma flared up two weeks ago, but she increasingly struggled with breathing. By March 12, it was serious. The family took her to urgent care at University of Chicago Medical Center.
“They red-flagged her because of her asthma and the fact she was having trouble breathing, then moved her to E.R., where she was ultimately diagnosed with pneumonia,” her brother said. “She was admitted and tested for COVID-19.”
Family had been with her up to that point. Now she was in intensive care — quarantined.
By Sunday, the coronavirus test came back positive, and Frieson was on a ventilator.
Her family kept in touch with doctors, trying not to overwhelm them with calls about her. Monday, the doctors called them. The family went to the hospital. A sister and a niece were allowed to go up and see her, separated by glass. She was pronounced dead at 9:40 p.m.
“Pat wanted to be cremated. We’re carrying out that process. We’ll have a memorial service at a later date,” her brother said.
“But another one of these things that’s terrible is that when you talk about even having a memorial service, we’re kind of handcuffed. You can’t have large gatherings. For family out of town, travel is restricted.”
So as they mourn, they also worry.
“Pat’s house was the essential focus for any gathering. And so we’re hugging, we’re kissing. We weren’t operating under any restrictions. We didn’t know she had the virus,” said her brother, who has selfquarantined, awaiting results of his own test.
“Fast forward. She’s diagnosed with this terrible virus. It’s very contagious. Everybody has been around her. We’ve been told we should all operate under the assumption we may have the virus,” he said.
“So not only are we trying to deal with the loss of our family member but also concern for the rest of our family. The impact of this virus is so far-reaching you can’t even imagine it till you’re faced with it.”
Chicago will stop ticketing, booting and towing illegally parked vehicles except for public safety reasons through April 30 to give some measure of relief to residents whose jobs and paychecks have been affected by the coronavirus.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the unprecedented hiatus during a conference call with reporters where she also disclosed that an employee in the city’s Department of Procurement Services has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The suspension of ticketing, booting and towing operations has already begun. It accompanies a decision to stop adding late fees and interest to debts owed to the city — including red-light and speed camera violations — as well as suspend referrals to collection agencies and debt checks for drivers of ride-hailing vehicles and taxis.
“Now is the time to act. It’s the right thing to do. We know that cash flow is a significant issue and we want to make sure that we’re doing our part to really hear people, recognize what their daily struggles are, and use the levers of city government to help them rather than leave them reeling and potentially driving them into bankruptcy,” she said.
The mayor portrayed the temporary suspension of non-safety-related ticketing, booting and towing as the first installment on a broader relief plan aimed at small businesses and hourly employees hardest hit by the pandemic.
It’ll last until at least April 30, although city officials “reserve the right to extend the time period, if necessary.”
The city is also talking to Chicago Parking Meters LLC about suspending its ticketing operations during the crisis.
“This isn’t free parking. But we’re not gonna be focusing as much of our ticketing people for expired meters and the like. People still do have to pay for parking as they normally would. But our ticketing activities … [are] really gonna be focused on public safety issues — not the standard fare-expired meters,” she said.
“However, if a car is just left on the streets, it’s gonna be deemed abandoned and that car will be towed in that circumstances.”
The decision to ease up on ticketing, towing and booting comes as downtown Chicago has turned into a ghost town, with restaurants and bars closed and most Chicagoans working from home.
It’s also a familiar theme for the mayor.
Last fall, Lightfoot persuaded the City Council to cut Chicago scofflaws some slack by reducing fines, expanding payment plans and stopping driver’s license suspensions for non-moving violations.
That was the first installment on a promise to wean Chicago away from fines and fees that have punished those who least can afford it. She also has stopped water shutoffs, calling water a “basic human right.”
During her election campaign, Lightfoot also promised to raise the boot threshold, stop booting for non-moving violations and eliminate a hefty chunk of red-light cameras at 149 intersections if those cameras were used for revenue rather than safety.
She even proposed abolishing city stickers.
On Wednesday, the mayor teased her broader relief plan that’s still in the works.
“One of the most important things we can do is keep people economically solvent and sound. If people don’t have resources, they’re not going to be able to pay taxes ultimately,” Lightfoot said.
“We know that there’s a significant amount of economic pressure all over, but particularly service employees, hourly workers in the hospitality area in particular. That’s why we’re looking at ways to give them relief to put money in their pocket rather than collecting it in fines and fees, or worse, driving people into bankruptcy.”
Also on Wednesday, Lightfoot said she is not considering switching Chicago police officers to 12hour shifts. But she has temporarily transferred police recruits to police districts, essentially shutting down the police academy.
She also acknowledged working with others in the “criminal justice network” to at least explore ways to “keep the jail population low” by focusing on “folks who pose the biggest risk.”
But, she stressed: “Obviously, we’re not gonna shy away from arresting people who are committing violent crime.”