2 years and over 1,500 deaths later: A look at COVID’s toll on Mecklenburg County
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The toll of two years
Mecklenburg County has hit the two year anniversary of the first case of COVID. Here’s a look at the virus’ toll on Mecklenburg.
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On Saturday, Mecklenburg hit the two-year anniversary of the first COVID case reported in a county resident.
Just weeks after that first case, Mecklenburg County announced the first county resident died from the coronavirus on March 29, 2020.
Mecklenburg’s first COVID death was in a 60-year-old resident with “significant underlying health conditions,” then-county health director Gibbie Harris said at the time.
Since then, more than 1,560 Mecklenburg residents have died due to COVID. And more than 275,000 people have been infected with the virus in the county.
Stories behind the death toll
Charlotte resident Bill Bauer was one of the early victims of COVID in Mecklenburg County.
Bauer, 78, died on April 16, after more than two weeks on a ventilator at Atrium Health Pineville.
“He was my favorite person in the world,” Mary Catherine Hinds, his daughter, told the Observer. “Kind. Compassionate. He loved camping, the Tar Heels, the Panthers and driving a truck. But he would also jump right in there as a guest for my daughter’s tea party.”
At the time, 31 people had died of the coronavirus in the county.
Atrium Health nurse Rose Liberto of Charlotte, who died in May 2020, was another early death in Mecklenburg. Liberto, 64, was also the area’s first health care worker who was reported to have died from COVID.
Her family had urged her to take a break from work as a critical care nurse at Atrium’s Cabarrus County Hospital, the Observer reported in May 2020.
“She felt so morally obligated,” her daughter, Jennifer Liberto, said at the time. “She kind of wanted to see this all through.”
Sixty people had died of the virus in Mecklenburg at the time.
Months later, in March 2021, a Charlotte woman died from COVID complications after taking the time to write her own obituary.
By then, COVID deaths had neared 900 in Mecklenburg County.
‘You cannot be replaced!’
Leiah Jones, 33, was a COVID “long-hauler,” meaning she recovered from the virus but was left with long-term damage.
She described herself as a determined, complex and genuine friend, and asked people to “please pray and support the ‘long haulers.’ ”
In mid-September 2021, as Mecklenburg County deaths tallied more than 1,100, longtime Charlotte firefighter Jeffery Hager died “after valiantly fighting COVID-19 for several weeks,” according to a statement from Charlotte Fire officials.
About a week later, family announced that Hager’s wife, Amee, had also died after being hospitalized with COVID. The couple left behind four children, ages 14, 13, 7 and 6.
“Our hearts are shattered and there are no words to explain the pain and grief we are feeling,” Amee’s parents, Tina and Randy Miller, wrote in an update on the Caring Bridge website at the time. “(We) only pray that we can find the right words to tell Amee and Jeff’s precious children that now, both their parents are gone.”
And Amee’s family urged everyone to get a COVID vaccine as soon as possible. “You cannot be replaced! Don’t leave your families behind to deal with this kind of pain and grief!” they wrote.
A young victim
In September 2021, 6-year-old Ethan Govan died due to COVID, Observer news partner WSOC reported. Govan, a student at Stoney Creek Elementary School, was a happy, loving boy, who liked school and loved the Bumblebee Transformer, his mom told WSOC.
At the time, there were just two pediatric deaths in 2021, according to county health officials. And no one younger than 20 died in 2020 or has died so far in 2022 related to COVID.
‘Dearly missed’
In October 2021, the Rogers family in east Charlotte had to say goodbye to its matriarch, Beverly Long-Rogers and her only son Travis Rogers.
Both died within eight days of each other due to double pneumonia brought on by the coronavirus.
“I’m still in shock,” Beverly’s daughter Kenda Rogers told the Observer at the time.
Also in October 2021, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced that longtime police officer Julio Herrera had died. In a Facebook post, his wife Beth Gilbert Herrera said her husband had “been battling COVID for about three weeks now.”
Herrera was a student resource officer at Ardrey Kell High School and had worked for CMPD for 28 years.
“You are dearly missed,” Ardrey Kell’s Twitter account posted at the time. “Thank you for everything Officer Herrera! The AK Community will always remember your impact.”
Rising death toll
This is the timeline of Mecklenburg deaths, based on county public health information.
▪ March 29, 2020: first county death
▪ May 1, 2020: 50 deaths
▪ June 3, 2020: 100+ deaths
▪ July 30, 2020: 200+ deaths
▪ Sept. 1, 2020: 300 deaths
▪ Nov. 3, 2020: 400+ deaths
▪ Dec. 16, 2020: 500+ deaths
▪ Jan. 5, 2021: 600+ deaths
▪ Jan. 19, 2021: 700+ deaths
▪ Feb. 7, 2021: 800+ deaths
▪ March 15, 2021: 900+ deaths
▪ Aug. 2, 2021: 1,000 deaths
▪ Sept. 15, 2021: 1,100+ deaths
▪ Oct. 6, 2021: 1,200+ deaths
▪ Jan. 4, 2022: 1,300+ deaths
▪ Feb. 1, 2022: 1,400+ deaths
▪ March 2, 2022: 1,500+ deaths
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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