Florida mother is left planning two funerals after her 20-year-old son and daughter, 22, die from coronavirus within 11 days of each other
by Valerie Edwards For Dailymail.com · Mail Online- Monete Hicks lost her son, Bryon, 20, and daughter, Mychaela, 22, to COVID-19
- She said her son started breathing poorly on June 27, the same day he died
- Her daughter Mychaela became sick seven days later and had to be hospitalized
- Mychaela stayed in the hospital for four days before she passed away on July 8
- Byron and Mychaela had underlying conditions, including obesity and asthma
- Since early July, Florida's coronavirus cases have continued to surge with at least 10,000 cases per day reported for six out of the last seven days
- Florida's skyrocketing coronavirus death rate is now higher than any other state
A Florida mother has revealed that her son and daughter both died from COVID-19 over the span of 11 days.
Monete Hicks, of Lauderdale Lakes, told NBC Miami that her 20-year-old son, Byron, was the first to start having trouble breathing on June 27.
'I came to check on him. He was in the living room on the floor sitting up. He was sleeping, but he was breathing very poorly,' Hicks recalled.
Hicks said Byron was rushed to the hospital where he later died.
While mourning the loss of her son, her daughter Mychaela, 22, fell ill with the virus seven days later.
According to Hicks, her daughter fought the disease until she had to be hospitalized due to consistent fevers and headaches.
'As the days went by, while she was [at the hospital], everything just went to breaking down in her body,' Hicks told NBC.
Mychaela was put on oxygen and even lost a kidney while she was in the hospital before passing away on July 8.
Both Byron and Mychaela had underlying health conditions. Hicks said morbid obesity and asthma are listed as contributing causes of Byron's death.
And for Mychaela, obesity, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were contributing causes to her death.
Hicks said she's been holding up during the day, 'but at night, it really hits me'.
'I'm so used to them being in here,' the grieving mother, who is in the process of planning two funerals, told NBC.
Coronavirus cases are climbing rapidly among young adults in a number of states who flocked to bars, stores and restaurants when they reopened.
In Florida, young people ages 15 to 34 now make up 31 per cent of all cases, up from 25 per cent in early June.
Since early July, Florida's coronavirus cases have continued to surge with at least 10,000 cases per day reported for six out of the last seven days.
Florida's skyrocketing coronavirus death rate is now higher than any other state, edging out Texas, which has about 25 per cent more people.
Florida recorded another 134 deaths Tuesday, bringing its daily average for the past week to 115, topping the 112 deaths a day Texas has reported during that time, Associated Press statistics show.
A month ago, Florida was averaging 33 coronavirus deaths a day.
Overall, 5,317 people have died in Florida from COVID-19 since March 1 and nearly 370,000 have tested positive for the disease.
About 19 per cent of tests have returned positive in Florida over the last week, compared to 10 per cent a month ago and 2.3 per cent in late May.
The state reported that an additional 517 people have been admitted to hospitals with the disease.
The governors of Texas, Florida and Georgia, where COVID-19 is raging, pushed back hard on Tuesday against local leaders who want to impose tighter restrictions to control the runaway spread of the coronavirus in their areas.
In Florida, a teachers union is suing Gov Ron DeSantis and other state officials to halt his ordered full reopening of classrooms in a few weeks.
'Obviously, if you look at the epidemic, it's more severe in some parts than others, and I think you should recognize that,' DeSantis said at a briefing, suggesting that some school districts were better positioned to open their buildings than others.
In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott overruled a county that wants residents to stay home, saying existing measures on wearing masks and social distancing were enough to keep businesses open in the Rio Grande Valley on the border with Mexico.
In Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp squared off against the mayor of his largest city to stop Atlanta from enforcing a mandate that people wear face coverings in public.
A court hearing on a mask lawsuit filed by the governor against Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms personally was postponed on Tuesday after the judge recused herself at the last minute.
Neither Florida nor Georgia have issued statewide mask mandates. Texas' Abbott initially resisted requiring masks but earlier this month agreed to mandate them in most counties.