Remembering More Than 5,700 Marylanders Who Died Of COVID-19 In Bleak 2020, And Hope For A Better 2021
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- When 2020 dawned, we didn't know the terrible suffering the year would bring: 5,727 Marylanders lost their lives to COVID-19.
They were more than just numbers; they ranged in age from children to seniors and lived in every county in the state, as well as Baltimore City.
Below are some of those who lost their lives due to the virus.
Leilani Jordan, 27, loved helping senior customers at her job at a Giant Food store in Largo. She died in early April.
Dr. Joseph Costa, 56, was the head of critical care at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center. He worked on the front lines at the medical center, which announced it would rename its intensive care unit in his memory. He died in July.
"Dr. Costa is a hero. He was doing incredible work saving lives for many years, including from the coronavirus. It's a terrible tragedy that he died. For people like him and all those risking their lives to take care of people in this region, we should do our part to protect them," Dr. Joshua Sharfstein with Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health said.
Dar'yana Dyson, 15, died just days from celebrating her 16th birthday. Dyson had the pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome known as Kawasaki disease, which doctors have been linking to coronavirus.
"She was loved. Period. She had a heart of gold," her aunt said following her death.
She died in May.
A one-year-old boy whose name was not released. Gov. Larry Hogan announced the boy's death during a December 1 news conference, getting choked up as he spoke.
Further details were not provided.
Antwion "Busta" Ball, 43, was a beloved teacher and mentor in Baltimore. Ball had diabetes, which made his treatment more complicated, his cousin Corey Johnson told WJZ in early December.
"He went to the hospital more than once. People need to understand if you're not on your death bed and having respiratory issues, they send you back home," Johnson said.
Master Corporal Robert Cadrette died in early December due to complications from COVID-19. He spent 22 years with the Charles County Sheriff's Office.
COVID-19 upended everything in 2020, from schools to sports to voting.
It was March 5 when Governor Larry Hogan announced the first cases here. At that time, he declared a state of emergency.
His briefings became a pandemic staple as he sounded the alarm and urged people to stop the spread.
As the novel coronavirus spread, Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University counted the growing number of cases around the world.
Hopkins' COVID-19 dashboard started as a small research project in January 2020 and grew to become the standard-bearing measure of the virus' impact.
The dashboard is expanding — now tracking vaccination efforts — and the team behind it hopes it will continue as a public health resource once the pandemic is over.
Now, the urgency is growing again as a new more easily transmissible strain spreads, but vaccinations are underway—albeit at a slow pace.
In total, 47,012 people have been vaccinated, according to the Maryland Department of Health. The total percentage of the state's population to get the vaccine is 0.78% as of New Year's Eve.
The first Marylanders to receive the shots were doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who have worked around the clock treating patients for months.
While what 2021 holds is unknown, there is hope that this virus will soon be under control and next New Year's Eve we'll be celebrating a return to life as we once knew it.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.
