MEMPHIS, Tenn. – COVID-19 has taken a life from a Memphis family, and its surviving members—who all tested positive for the virus—have a strong message to share.
Vickie Quarles and her five daughters are facing the new year without their husband and father, Theodis.
“He was such a loving man. He would do anything and everything for anybody. To know him was to love him,” Quarles said.
The 48-year-old died December 18, less than two weeks after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
“He thought at first that it was just an upper respiratory infection,” Quarles said.
She says his condition worsened quickly and he developed a fever, stomach pains and breathing issues.
The loss has been especially hard for the children, ages two to 18.
“The six-year-old and the ten-year-old, they don’t sleep at night, and they’re trying to understand ‘When is daddy coming home’ and ‘Why do daddy have to be in the dirt?’” Quarles said.
Eighteen-year-old Alyssa, a medical student, who helped care for her father, says she wants to remember the good times but said, “When I have to think about what he looked like, I only think about what I saw of him last, laying there, and I couldn’t help him.”
It’s unknown how or where Theodis Quarles, an insurance agent, contracted COVID-19, but his wife has a warning for those who aren’t taking the virus seriously.
“Until it hits your door, you don’t really understand the meaning of actually staying safe and the real thing,” she said. “Okay, this virus is actually real.”
The family, all of whom tested positive for the virus, has just finished their quarantine process and are making plans to bury their father.
In the meantime, a friend has set up a GoFundMe account to help Theodis Quarles’ five daughters.
- Local residents in Phase 1a or 1b for the COVID-19 vaccine can now pre-register online to get their shots.
- COVID-19 related deaths are up to 6,174 — that is 93 deaths in the last 24 hours, the second highest number of new deaths from the virus reported since the pandemic began. The highest number reported in a single day was 96 deaths back in September.
- Across the nation, the mass-vaccination sites are ready to roll. All that’s missing is the vaccine and that is causing an enormous amount of frustration, not to mention health risks, for many of our frontline health workers and society’s most vulnerable.
- The first case of the new COVID-19 variant, originally found in the United Kingdom last year, has been found in Virginia according to the Virginia Department of Health.
- Emerging variants of the coronavirus may be reason for the public to start wearing two masks, according to a top infectious disease expert at VCU Health.
- Aumauinuuese Puni survived a caught-on-video lightning strike in April of 2020 and COVID-19 this month.
- Minnesota health officials confirmed Monday that a mutation of COVID-19 from Brazil was found for the first time in the United Sates.
- Ballad Health officials said the spread of COVID-19 in the Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia region is truly widespread at this point and that we have passed the point of identifying clusters in the region.
- During a press conference after signing an executive order designed to galvanize the economy and help factories, President Joe Biden shed light on a topic millions of Americans have been tracking – how the size of the stimulus check outlined in his COVID relief plan was chosen.
- At a press conference Monday, President Joe Biden said he believes anyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one by this spring.
