Former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) are remembering their stepmother who died after contracting COVID-19.
“My stepmother Alice was a wonderful woman. A great mom. A wonderful wife of 31 years to my dad and she is very greatly missed,” Julian Castro said.
The Castros' father now has the virus, and he is at home. Julian Castro said his father's symptoms are not bad. The brothers are crossing their fingers and expect him to be OK.
“My heart also goes out to all of those families out there who have lost a loved one to COVID-19," Julian Castro said. "It’s such a tragic experience, not only because we know so many of these deaths didn't have to happen, but also the circumstances. Family members are not able to grieve and to be around their loved one in the same way that one usually would be, so it really drives home the reality of this illness."
Castro stressed everyone needs to take the pandemic seriously.
"If all of us take the responsibility that we should, we can do our part," he said. "You know, what governments do and policymakers, that’s something else, and we know that there have been failures there, but all of us can also play our own part in trying to slow the spread of this pandemic to flatten the curve and ultimately to overcome it."
