Foster Mom Of 300 Who 'Kept Giving' Dies Of Coronavirus

KISSIMMEE, FL — Children were the life of Sue Braley. The Central Florida woman fostered more than 300 of them in her last 20 years, family members have said.

Carianne Braley, Braley's biological daughter, told the Orlando Sentinel her mother and father, Dennis Braley, never cared for fewer than five children at a time.

Sue and Dennis Braley adopted nine kids in addition to the hundreds they fostered — all of whom are either heartbroken or confused in the days after Sue Braley's death Jan. 20 from the coronavirus.

She is one of more than 442,900 Americans and more than 26,000 Floridians who have died of the virus.

Craig Braley, the Braley couple's biological son, recalled with the Sentinel the impossible choice he was faced with when taking his father, who has also contracted the virus, to the hospital.

“I had to choose between watching my mother die or making sure my dad lived,” he told the newspaper. “Dad won.”

The guilt, he added, is "God awful."

The youngest four of Braleys' children are too young to understand she is gone.

“We’ve tried to just tell them, ‘She’s just not here right now,’” Carianne Braley said. “To try and explain it to them is the hardest thing.”

The daughter said her mom was passionate about giving.

“She’d say, ‘Carrie, as long as we have a home and love to give, we’re going to keep giving,’” Carianne Braley said.

Her biggest fear was dying alone.

"And that's exactly how she died," Carianne Braley said.

Read more from The Orlando Sentinel

The Latest

Moderna, the drugmaker that produced one of the two coronavirus vaccines approved so far for use in the United States, is asking officials to allow it to put more vaccine into its vials. The company has said it can raise the number of doses per vial from 10 to 15, according to a report from The New York Times.

The Food and Drug Administration's limit on doses per vial has inhibited the potential vaccine rollout, Moderna spokesman Ray Jordan said Monday, the NYT reported.

This comes as the new Biden administration continues its attempt to speed up the vaccination effort that has still yet to inoculate its 50 millionth American. More than 32 million Americans have received vaccine doses as of Tuesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The federal government has committed to giving at least 10.5 million vaccine doses to states over the next three weeks, the Times reported. That's an increase of 5 percent from recent weeks.

Nursing home staff members have been at the front of vaccine lines across the states, but not all have taken the shot when offered it. In fact, recent numbers show that fewer than half have done so.

The CDC looked at more than 11,000 nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities that had at least one vaccination clinic between the middle of December and the middle of January. The researchers found that while 78 percent of residents got at least one shot, only 37.5 percent of staff members did, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Dr. Amanda Cohn said more staffers get vaccinated when a second or third clinic is held at a home.

"Continuing to capture those staff who did not accept vaccine early will be really important as we try to eliminate outbreaks and protect both staff and residents in long-term care facilities," Cohn said.

When the country's vaccine rollout began, concerns were raised over how people in rural areas might struggle to get access to it. Places such as the mostly rural West Virginia were considered likely to have that difficulty.

But the Mountaineer State, to some surprise, has been near the top of the states boasting the strongest vaccine administration rates. As of Sunday, 85 percent of the doses the state has received had been administered, NBC News reports, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers.

The state's success on the vaccine front can be attributed, in some part, to its decision not to enter into a federal partnership with giants such as Walgreens and CVS, and instead rely on local drugstores, according to the NBC News report.

Vaccine sites in many Northeastern states were active again on Tuesday after a major snowstorm forced canceled appointments on Monday.

But in New Jersey, a state of emergency imposed by Gov. Phil Murphy remained in effect Tuesday and the state's six megasites for COVID-19 vaccines were still closed.

As President Joe Biden looks to see his proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package move forward, he met this week with 10 Senate Republicans who a day earlier sent him a letter seeking to negotiate the proposal.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki described it as “an exchange of ideas" and not a forum for Biden to “make or accept an offer," according to the AP. Democratic leaders in Congress are laying the groundwork for taking up Biden's proposal in the coming weeks.

The Republicans' smaller counterproposal calls for $160 billion for vaccines, testing, treatment and personal protective equipment and more-targeted relief than the president's plan to issue $1,400 stimulus checks for most Americans.

Meanwhile, researchers are now linking new diabetes cases to the virus. As many as 14.4 percent of coronavirus patients who had experienced severe COVID-19 symptoms have developed either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, the Washington Post reported, citing a November analysis from the Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism journal.

Scientists remain unsure, however, whether the virus is making already-developing problems worse, creating new problems, or both.

In the sports world, pro football's biggest game, the Super Bowl, is already affected by the virus even as the game is five days away. On Monday, two Kansas City Chiefs players were placed on the team's COVID-19 reserve list due to having close contact with the virus.

Newest Numbers

More than 52.6 million vaccine doses have been distributed and 32.7 million administered in the United States as of Monday afternoon, according to the CDC. More than 26.4 million people have received one dose, and more than 6 million have received two.

At least 1,606 deaths and 122,274 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States on Monday, according to a Washington Post database. The Post's reporting shows that over the past week, new daily reported cases have fallen 13.4 percent, new daily deaths have risen 1.8 percent and COVID-19-related hospitalizations have fallen 14.6 percent.

Currently, 93,536 people are hospitalized with a coronavirus-related illness in the United States, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

As of Tuesday, 33 states and U.S. territories remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the United States had reported more than 26.3 million cases and more than 445,400 deaths from COVID-19-related illnesses, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or The Washington Post.

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