Married For 47 Years, Couple Dies Of Coronavirus At Same Moment

ACROSS AMERICA — Leslie and Patricia McWaters did everything together in their 47-year marriage. So perhaps it was only fitting that they died together.

Hospital staff members who cared for Patricia McWaters, 78, and Leslie McWaters, 75, in their final days said determining who died first at 3:24 p.m. Nov. 24 was "too close to call," according to the Jackson, Michigan, couple's obituary.

The two died within a minute of each other. Both had battled the coronavirus.

"They did almost everything together, so it should be no surprise that they went to be with the Lord together within the very same minute," the obituary states.

But "those of us that know them, know that mom went first and said, “LD (Leslie), it’s time to go!”

"She was definitely the boss," the obituary states. "They were polar opposites, yet made it work for almost 50 years."

Patricia McWaters was a surgical nurse, and Leslie McWaters was a truck driver. The two were wed in 1973, and leave behind two daughters, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

“It’s tough enough to lose one parent, but this was the worst,” Joanna Sisk, one of the couple's daughters, told Click On Detroit.

The Latest

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States has surpassed 13.5 million. And as Americans approach the end of 2020 and the expiration date of another batch of economic lifelines, Congress this week will start talks on yet another new iteration of a coronavirus stimulus bill.

A bipartisan group of senators is expected to unveil an approximately $908 billion stimulus proposal Tuesday. Negotiations on a new measure have been at an impasse since talks collapsed over the summer and again ahead of the November election.

The new proposal seeks to reach a middle ground on a number of contentious issues. It would provide $300 a week in federal unemployment benefits, $240 billion in funding for state and local governments, and a six-month moratorium on some coronavirus-related lawsuits against firms and other entities.

Also Tuesday, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel is expected to meet to craft guidance on who should get the coronavirus vaccine first.

According to a report by The New York Times, there is widespread agreement that health care workers should receive the vaccine first, followed by essential workers and employees, and residents of long-term care facilities.

Guidance released by the CDC is expected to be exactly that — guidance. The decision on how to distribute the vaccine and who should receive it first will ultimately fall to states.

Meanwhile, increased coronavirus case numbers and hospitalizations across the country continue to spur additional restrictions imposed by governors and mayors throughout the United States. In Los Angeles County, home to 10 million people, new rules have been imposed calling for residents to stay home as much as possible.

A statewide limited stay-at-home order already imposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been met by protests, however. Most recently, about 80 people gathered at the pier in Santa Monica after 10 p.m. Saturday to show their displeasure at the edict.

Newsom said Monday that at the rate the virus is spreading now, the state's intensive care units could be overloaded by the middle of December and hospitals full by Christmas, according to The New York Times.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state enters a "new phase" in the war against the virus, The Times reported.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday announced a phased reopening of the city's public schools will begin on Dec. 7. Younger grade levels will return to in-person learning first.

Meanwhile, a telling number of parents frustrated with lockdowns and upheaval in U.S. public schools are making the decision to pull their kids from school completely.

In California, seven families have sued the state over the quality of education their children have received at home, saying they have been "left behind" by the shift to remote learning.

The suit argues that a lack of attention to the realities of remote learning has exacerbated inequality in schools and deprived minority students from poor families of their right to an education, the Times reported.

This comes as the push for a coronavirus vaccine continues to move forward. Moderna Inc., one of the pharmaceutical companies working on its final trials, said Monday it would ask U.S. and European regulators to allow emergency use for the vaccine. Early results show the vaccine is more than 94 percent effective, according to The Associated Press.

Vaccine approval could come from the Food and Drug Administration as early as this month.

Newest Numbers

At least 1,033 new coronavirus deaths and 151,079 new cases had been reported in the United States on Monday, according to a Washington Post database. Over the past seven days, the United States has averaged more than 160,000 cases each day.

As of Tuesday, 43 states and Puerto Rico 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.

More than 13.56 million people in the United States had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Tuesday morning, and more than 268,600 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

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

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