Florida Mother Loses Two Adult Children To COVID-19 Within 11 Days

A Florida mother's two adult children died of COVID-19 within 11 days of each other. Byron and Mychaela, Monete Hicks' adult children, had underlying health conditions.

The Lauderhill mother said her son and daughter were doing fine and "basically homebound." However, she revealed, they had taken a trip to Orlando before getting sick with symptoms.

Hicks' 20-year-old son Byron experienced breathing difficulties upon waking up one Saturday in late June, she told CNN. The paramedics rushed Byron to the hospital, but, around noon, he was declared dead. "I lost my baby," Hicks said during an interview with CNN.

The following Tuesday, her 23-year-old daughter Mychaela began feeling ill and urged Hicks' to take her to the hospital. "' Mama, just crank up the car, let's go,'" Hicks recalled her daughter telling her even though the former did not like hospitals.

Hicks said her daughter went in with a fever and headache. Soon, Mychaela experienced breathing difficulties which got worse. Her organs started failing, beginning with her kidney, then her liver. "And it just went one after another, one after another," Hicks said.

Darisha Scott, a cousin of the deceased, remembered Byron as a gamer who loved his family. She added Byron was the goofball of his family, while calling Mychaela "the light of the family"

Both Hicks and Scott are among those urging people to take the pandemic seriously. "All I can say is, take this, take this (virus) very seriously, because it's real, it's out there," Hicks said.

Scott said people should not take the health crisis as a joke or a game and also reminded everyone that it is not something the government made up. She urged everyone to wear masks, wash their hands, keep distance from others and not venture out unless it is absolutely necessary, particularly in Florida. "Nobody should have to feel the pain, my auntie shouldn't have to feel this pain," she added.