A Florida woman said she believes her husband died of COVID-19 after they allowed their children to host a sleepover earlier this summer.
Sherica Dalloo is warning others of how easy children can spread the virus, even if they are asymptomatic.
“Someone came to our home that was COVID positive. It actually was a child that brought it into our home,” said Dalloo, adding that she believed it was a 9-year-old who came to visit and spread the virus to the entire Boynton Beach family of six.
Her husband of 11 years, David Dalloo, died on Aug. 28 after battling the virus.
“It was just like surreal,” she told CBS 12 News. “He had to have surgeries, he had artificial lungs, he had to go on dialysis, he was in an induced coma.”
The grieving widow is now warning other families to wear masks and use social distancing, even in their homes. She is also encouraging young adults to get vaccinated.
“I make sure, if we know people are coming, I say, ‘Kids, put your mask on. Right now, everyone is visiting you and want to see if you’re okay,” Dalloo said. “You guys have to be safe; at the end of the day, I don’t want you guys to end up in the hospital or pass it on to another relative, maybe older, and something like this happens to them.”
“Us as parents,” she added, “We have to do what’s best for our children. We have to make sure they’re protected.”
David Dalloo wore masks and worked from home during the pandemic, only to contract the virus in his own home. “Our family is changed forever,” said his bride. “I’m a widow, with four children that I have to raise, and my youngest is 3.”
In a recent report, The Journal of the American Medical Association found that babies and toddlers rapidly spread COVID-19 within their homes. Children aged 3 or younger make up just 12% of initial COVID cases, while children between 14 and 17 make up 38%.
Still, the odds of transmission were 40% higher when the toddler was the initial patient compared to when it was the older child.
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