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'Words can't express it': Man shares the heartache of losing his wife to COVID as Arizona surpasses 20,000 deaths

More than 11,000 fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives, like Fernanda Vega, have died since January.

ARIZONA, USA — Arizona passed a tragic milestone Friday, surpassing more than 20,000 people who have died of complications from COVID-19.

Since the pandemic began in early 2020, Arizonans have felt the loneliness of lockdowns and the joy of reunions. But none have felt the pain of COVID like the tens of thousands of families who lost loved ones.

“You know, you just have something that is just torn from you that you cherished and you loved, and it's gone in an instant,” said Ysmael Vega, who lost his wife of 20 years to the virus.

Vega and his wife, Fernanda Vega, had their reservations about the vaccines when they first became available. Fernanda Vega worked in the healthcare industry and was worried about a vaccine that was conceived and marketed only nine months after the emergence of the virus.

In the summer of 2021, both Ysmael and Fernanda Vega contracted the virus. Ysmael Vega spend a week in the hospital, Fernanda Vega never made it out.

“Seeing her pass in front of me was very traumatizing,” said Vega.

20,039 deaths in Arizona alone. Pre-pandemic that would seem like an unthinkable number, like something out of a bad Hollywood disaster movie. 

The number of Arizonans who have died from the virus couldn’t even fit in the Phoenix Suns arena.

More than half of the state’s COVID deaths happened this past year, not the high peaks and low valleys of 2020. 

More than 11,000 fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives, like Fernanda Vega, have died since January. 

The milestone tears open again, the wounds in Ysmael Vega’s heart.

“I'm sad, you know, it brings back all the hurt,” Vega said. “I haven't really. I'm coping with it but I’m very empty and I can just feel for the families that are going through it also. I know what they're going through. And it’s...words can't express it.”

Ysmael Vega may still hold reservations about the long-term effects of the vaccines, but he and his son are in the process of getting theirs. 

Although he still has questions, he recommends anyone who is thinking about it, to get their shots. He never wants anyone to go through what he and his family have been through this past year.

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