COVID CLAIMS WIFE AND HUSBAND MINUTES APART
Dear readers, due to the no-movement days announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to help stem the spread of COVID-19, THE STAR will not be published on Monday, August 23 and Tuesday, August 24. The publication will return on Wednesday, August 25. THE STAR team encourages everyone to stay safe and follow the protocols.
After spending more than four decades together, Trevor and Linette Johnson passed away minutes apart on Thursday morning after developing complications from COVID-19.
The couple, who are from St Ann, died at the Percy Junor Hospital in Manchester. Trevor was a businessman and Linette a retired nurse. Both were in their 60s. Their deaths were not included in data published by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, which showed that 1,342 persons have died locally from COVID-19 as of Wednesday.
Their eldest son C Johnson, was in tears when he spoke with THE WEEKEND STAR yesterday. He said their death is devastating for the family and is urging others not to take the virus lightly.
“COVID is dangerous. I don’t know where it come from and when it is going to end, and I think that everybody is going to get it. Please, people unno go and get check out if unno feel sick. It’s best people just take the vaccine because you will have a fighting chance. Absolutely no-one is safe,” he said.
Johnson said his father became ill a little more than a week ago and sought medical attention after complaining of weakness and loss of appetite. However, his condition did not improve with medication.
NO DIAGNOSIS
“Daddy went to doctors two times before I realised he was sick, but when I told him to go again for another check-up, he said he wasn’t going because they weren’t really diagnosing him with anything. He was very weak and could barely talk, and he wasn’t eating. Him say half of him feel like it dead. Him say him nah go back a doctor because they didn’t know what they were treating him for,” the distraught son said.
By this time, his mother, who suffered from a heart condition, diabetes and high blood pressure, had begun feeling ill. C Johnson said that last Friday when he went to visit his parents, they were both in bed. He said that neither thought they had contracted the deadly virus, especially since a doctor had told his mother that she was suffering from a bad case of sinusitis.
With no improvement in their conditions, the Johnsons decided to get tested for COVID-19 last Saturday.
“We took them to Percy Junor Hospital on Sunday and before my father reached the hospital he told me to take care of the family and business. It was like, he knew he wasn’t going to come back. That morning mommy was really sick too,” C Johnson said.
The next few days were like a roller coaster for the Johnsons.
“Mi father call and him say ‘Unno take care a unno self because mi nah come home, enuh’. Him tell mi say him a fight it but him weak. ...When mi talk to mommy, she say she feel likkle better but daddy nah do suh good. Mi hold on to that and think dem a guh come home, but dem gone,” he said tearfully.
The Johnsons passed away early Thursday morning minutes apart.
“Daddy died first and Mommy died minutes later. Mi can’t understand how di two a dem guh one time. It tough enuh, man,” C Johnson said.
“Mi father call and him say ‘Unno take care a unno self because mi nah come home, enuh’. Him tell mi say him a fight it but him weak. ...When mi talk to mommy, she say she feel likkle better but daddy nah do suh good.”