Office reveals new details on fatalities
Most Central Florida deaths are older people
A 70-year-old taxi driver who had passengers from Italy. A 59-year-old woman who attended a family reunion in Tennessee. A 52-year-old man who had traveled to Chicago to attend a funeral.
These individuals are among 79 Central Floridians who have lost their battle with COVID-19 since the first case was recorded by the Orange County Medical Examiner on March 15, according to new details of all COVID-19 fatalities released on Thursday by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission.
Most of the deaths in Central Florida were people in their 60s or older — the
group at highest risk for the virus. However, seven people in their 40s and 50s have also died.
Lakisha Willis White, 45, traveled in March to visit relatives in Detroit and was diagnosed with pneumonia while she was there. After returning to Orlando, she was hospitalized on April 1 and died three days later.
“She loved her kids, loved her grandkids, and she really loved her husband,” said Stovelleo Stovall, pastor of the God is Able Outreach church in Orlando, who married Lakisha and William White in 2012.
The data shows that the majority of the patients went to the hospital because of cough, fever and shortness of breath. Some also had diarrhea and vomiting and felt weak. All patients tested positive for COVID-19, except in one case, in which a 52-year-old man tested negative for COVID-19 multiple times, but an antibody test showed that he had been previously infected.
A coalition of news outlets that includes the Orlando Sentinel, the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Miami Herald had been seeking the medical examiner master fatality list, but the state initially only released a heavily redacted version. On Thursday, it released more information about the Floridians who have died of coronavirus.
To be sure, the Orange County Medical Examiners office, which also covers Osceola County, has been transparent with sharing local COVID-19 fatality data with the Orlando Sentinel, but medical examiner offices in other counties have been reluctant.
The new details from the Medical Examiners Commission, which is part of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, reveal that three of the Central Floridians who succumbed to coronavirus had taken cruises in the weeks before they died.
One of the cruise passengers was 86-year-old Herman Boehm, who had survived three heart attacks and a stroke. He loved to travel with his wife, Katica Susec-Boehm, so they booked a threeweek cruise to Europe that left Fort Lauderdale on March 5. It was destined for Venice, Italy, but ended in Marseille, France, after passengers fell ill with COVID-19.
The couple got back to Orlando on March 20, and within days, Boehm developed a cough and soon had trouble breathing. Paramedics were unable to save him, and he died in his bed on March 29.
“I miss him very much,” said his wife of 45 years. “I loved him very much. He was everything to me. He was my friend; he was my husband. He was everything in my life.”
Another victim, a 79-year-old woman from Orlando, was on a cruise Feb. 10-14 and started feeling ill on March 7. She died on March 15.
Data also showed that one victim — a 55-year-old Kissimmee man who died April 1 at Osceola Regional Medical Center — was a Transportation Security Administration agent. However, TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said in an email that the man “was not a TSA employee.”
The report said the man had complained of fever, chills, vomiting and abdominal pain.
“He developed worsening pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital where he tested positive for COVID-19,” the report said. “He declined and passed away 12 days after admission.”
Carolyn Fennell, a spokeswoman for the Orlando International Airport, where 14 TSA agents have tested positive for COVID-19, said employee records showed nobody with his name working at the facility. The president of the local TSA union did not immediately return a call seeking information.
Eight of the deceased were from New York or had visited the state.
One of them, an 81-year-old woman with several health conditions who lived in Groveland and was receiving hospice care, had visitors from New York. Her husband and her daughter, who were her main caregivers, tested positive for COVID-19 and her husband was hospitalized later with pneumonia, according to the report. She tested positive for the virus on April 10 and died on April 15.
Another was 68-year-old Tavares woman who became unresponsive on a flight from New York on April 10 and died 11 days later due to COVID-19.
The report also shows that two patients were put on ECMO machines, sophisticated therapy of last resort for patients who have severe heart and lung complications.
One was a 61-year-old phlebotomist at AdventHealth Waterman with heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Before being put on ECMO she was given hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, but was taken off of it because of heart rhythm complications and liver failure.
She tested negative for COVID-19 twice while she was hospitalized. But her third test came back positive. She died on April 20, 10 days after being put on ECMO.
“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact across the globe and here in Central Florida,” AdventHealth said in a statement. “We mourn those who have lost their lives and pray for those who have experienced loss. We remain committed to doing all we can to care for our community.”
“He was everything to me. He was my friend; he was my husband. He was everything in my life.”
Katica Susec-Boehm, wife of coronavirus victim
Annie Martin, Leslie Postal and Katie Rice contributed to this report.
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Editor’s note: AdventHealth is an advertising sponsor for the Orlando Sentinel’s coronavirus channel but has no input or influence on editorial decisions or content.