Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother dies from the novel coronavirus
- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, died this week from the novel coronavirus.
- Herring was 86 years old and died in Norman, Oklahoma. He was diagnosed with cancer years ago and underwent treatment. He was also hospitalized for pneumonia in February.
- "I'm grateful to the nurses and other front-line staff who took care of my brother, but it is hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say 'I love you' one more time," Warren said in her statement.
- "And now there's no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close. I will miss my brother."
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Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, died on Tuesday after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, she confirmed in a statement to The Boston Globe.
Herring, a 20-year veteran of the US Air Force, was 86 years old and died in Norman, Oklahoma, according to The Globe.
"I'm grateful to the nurses and other front-line staff who took care of my brother, but it is hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say 'I love you' one more time," Warren said in her statement. "And now there's no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close. I will miss my brother."
"My oldest brother, Don Reed, died from coronavirus on Tuesday evening," Warren tweeted on Thursday, after The Globe's story was published. "He joined the Air Force at 19 and spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam. He was charming and funny, a natural leader."
The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus, which causes a disease known as COVID-19, a pandemic last month. The outbreak originated in Wuhan, China, but the US became the global epicenter last month following a surge in confirmed cases in hotspots like New York, New Jersey, California, and Washington state.
Warren has been sharply critical of the Trump administration's delayed response to the pandemic but has not previously revealed her personal connection to the crisis.
According to The Globe, Herring was diagnosed with cancer years ago and underwent treatment. He was hospitalized for pneumonia in February and moved to a rehabilitation center to recover. Other patients in the facility Herring was at had tested positive for the virus, and he tested positive in early April. He did not show symptoms until 11 days later.
Herring was moved to intensive care on April 15 and died six days later. He was not on a ventilator, according to The Globe.
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