Sibling Teachers 'Praying For A Miracle' As Mom Fights Virus

MESQUITE, TX — Chris and Melissa Griffin, siblings in Mesquite, Texas, are living examples of how teachers are at risk of spreading the coronavirus to relatives who could suffer the severe effects from it.

Their mother, 60-year-old Robyne Griffin, has been at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, a small community hospital in Sunnyvale, for a month and a half after coming down with the virus and coughing so hard she couldn't breathe, a KHOU report details.

"She's the sort of person that would do anything for you," Chris Griffin told the news station. "When she's in the room, you know everything's going to be OK. We've been missing that the past few weeks."

Living with her mother along with her husband, Melissa Griffin told the news station she fears that she spread the virus to her mother from the classroom. Both Griffin and her husband tested positive for the virus before her mother.

"Unfortunately, we all got sick," Melissa Griffin said. "Choosing to be a teacher during all of this, we had to financially support our family, and it came with a risk every day."

Robyne Griffin has been on a ventilator since late January, as her children try to get her into a larger hospital with more capability to help her.

The ventilator she's on now is "maxed out," Chris Griffin told KHOU, having reached its limits.

He and his sister say their mother needs an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, but all the Level 1 trauma centers nearby have told them they can't take any transfers.

"We feel like we're watching our mom suffocate to death because we just can't get her somewhere else," Chris Griffin said. "We're praying for a miracle."

Read more from KHOU

The Latest

The return to pre-coronavirus pandemic normalcy may be far off, but states continue to gradually ease restrictions enacted to limit the virus's spread.

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf relaxed restrictions on attending indoor and outdoor sports and entertainment events, and eliminated out-of-state travel restrictions effective immediately on Monday.

Professional sports teams in the state are now able to have fans in attendance, and audiences also will be permitted for events such as live theater and music performances. People over the age of 11 who visit another state no longer will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 virus test or quarantine themselves for 14 days upon entering the state.

"Pennsylvania is taking a measured approach to revising or lifting mitigation orders," Wolf said in a statement.

In the state's largest city, Philadelphia, schools will reopen soon. Some teachers will return this week and students next week, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, after a virus-related closure that lasted several months.

Students and teachers could be back in the classrooms in California soon as well, as Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Legislatures agreed Monday to a plan that would encourage schools to reopen across the state, The New York Times and others have reported.

Fast-tracking vaccinations and about $2 billion in incentives to lure teachers back to school this year are part of the state's agreement, according to the Times.

California has accounted for more virus-related deaths since the pandemic began than any other state, passing the 50,000 mark a week ago.

States reopening have been urged to proceed with caution, however.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the CDC, urgently warned state officials and ordinary Americans not to let down their guard, saying she is "really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures that we have recommended.”

“I remain deeply concerned about a potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic,” she told the AP. “We stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground that we have gained.”

Virus-related restrictions are being eased as a third vaccine, by New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson, begins to make its way across the country.

By the end of March, J&J has said it expects to deliver 20 million doses to the U.S., and 100 million by summer, according to The Associated Press. Shipments to states were expected to begin Monday.

The J&J vaccine was found to have a 72 percent overall efficacy rate in the United States. It also showed 86 percent efficacy against severe forms of COVID-19 in the United States, and 82 percent against severe disease in South Africa.

Members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention group that recommended the vaccine Sunday emphasized that all three vaccines now available in the U.S. are highly protective against the worst effects of the virus, including those requiring hospitalization and those leading to death.

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Even as vaccine progress continues, new ideas for ways to treat the virus are coming up as well.

Could it involve cannabis? A professor at Michigan State University is researching the compounds in the plant that could possibly help relieve symptoms of COVID-19, according to a report from Fox-17 in Western Michigan.

Norbert Kaminski is working with the biopharmaceutical company GB Sciences to identify the cannabis compounds that don't have the psychotropic properties but are anti-inflammatory. The research seeks to determine if it could lead to a drug that would help with the lung inflammation that coronavirus patients often experience.

“In the case of COVID, those individuals that really have serious health problems often have had too strong an immune response, which compromises the function of their lungs," Kaminski told the news station.

Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives this weekend passed President Joe Biden's massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, bringing pandemic-weary Americans a step closer to additional direct aid and emergency jobless benefits.

The package — which also includes billions of dollars for vaccines, schools, state and local governments and the ailing restaurant industry — passed on a near-party-line 219-212 vote early Saturday. Two Democrats joined all Republicans in voting against the measure.

The measure now heads to the Senate, where Democrats seemed hopeful —albeit less strongly now — on resuscitating their minimum wage push amid fights over state aid and other issues. Currently, the proposal would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025, more than doubling the current $7.25 floor that's been in effect since 2019.

Republicans oppose the sweeping bill, saying it's too expensive, not targeted enough at the people and businesses needing it most, and a grab bag of gifts for Democratic allies. Not one has publicly said they will support the legislation.

Newest Numbers

As of Monday afternoon, the United States had reported more than 28.6 million cases and more than 513,500 deaths from COVID-19-related illnesses, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

At least 1,093 deaths and 55,114 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States on Sunday, according to a Washington Post database. The Post's reporting shows that over the past week, new daily cases have risen 4.7 percent, new daily deaths have risen 6.6 percent and COVID-19-related hospitalizations have fallen 12.7 percent.

More than 96.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed and more than 76.8 million administered in the United States as of Monday, according to the CDC. More than 50.7 million people have received one dose, and nearly 25.4 million have received two.

Currently, 47,352 people are hospitalized with a coronavirus-related illness in the United States, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

As of Monday, 22 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.

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