CBS2 speaks to families of some of the 100,000-plus Tri-State Area residents who died from COVID-19
NEW YORK -- More than 100,000 people in the Tri-State Area have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
CBS2's Andrea Grymes spoke with some local families on Thursday about the grim milestone.
He had a big smile -- and a heart of gold. Two years later, Rev. Karen Davis-Lawson still can't believe her beloved husband of 12 years is gone.
Dr. Noel Lawson, 67, was one of the 1 million people President Joe Biden said have died from COVID in the U.S.
"One million people. I can't imagine that number," Davis-Lawson said.
Dr. Lawson, a teacher at Bronx Academy of Health Careers, passed away May 4, 2020. He came to the U.S. from Jamaica in 1993, and lived with his wife in Co-Op City. Davis-Lawson said it has been tough without him, not only figuring out how to make ends meet but also learning to live without his presence in her life.
"He was my biggest champion, so for him not to be here is very difficult. We were really friends and companions, so I miss, I miss my friend," Davis-Lawson said.
Vivian Zayas said she'll never get over the death of her mother, 78-year-old Ana Martinez, who was from Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She passed away from COVID at a Long Island nursing home on April 1, 2020.
"How do we honor their memory if we don't try to correct things and fix things?" Zayas said.
Zayas and her sister turned their grief into advocacy. They started the group Voices for Seniors to demand answers about COVID deaths in nursing homes. Martinez was not only a treasured mom, but also a grandmother and great-grandmother.
"I had never a concern that my mother wasn't there for me. She was strong, she was feisty, and I knew that the love of a mother was always there and present," Zayas said.
Many loved ones said losing someone at the beginning of the pandemic was especially awful because they couldn't gather to grieve together, something they hope other families never have to go through.
Late Thursday afternoon, White House COVID coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha issued a warning that the U.S. will be increasingly vulnerable to COVID this fall and winter if Congress doesn't approve new funding for more vaccines and treatments.