South Carolina couple married for 66 years die days apart from COVID, family says

A couple married for more than six decades died of COVID-19 within days of each other last month in South Carolina.

Edna Redus, 83, contracted the virus first and passed away on Nov. 11, according to an online obituary. Her husband Lee Redus, 89, died four days later.

“To have them leave in horrible fashion, that is something I’m not going to get over,” the couple’s daughter Tauna Johnson told WYFF, noting that her parents’ medical conditions were likely worsened by the virus. “I do think that’s a lesson that, you know, look at what (coronavirus) can do and how horrible it is.”

Lee and Edna were married 66 years and shared three daughters, five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, their obituaries state. Edna was remembered as a “devoted and loving mother,” and Lee a retired U.S. Air Force veteran who regularly attended church.

COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly across the country, with the U.S. reporting over 2,800 virus-related deaths on Wednesday — the highest tally reported in a day, according to CNN. The nation’s hospitals are also reaching a breaking point as more than 100,000 patients are hospitalized with the virus.

In South Carolina, the state reached its highest daily case count since July after reporting 1,777 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths on Nov. 27, The State reported. South Carolina reported 1,612 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as well as 35 deaths, the highest in a day since Oct. 31.

The Redus family isn’t the first to lose both parents to the coronavirus.

On Nov. 24, Michigan couple Leslie and Patricia Waters died within seconds of each other after contracting COVID-19, McClatchy News reported. Relatives said the pair did everything together, “so it should be no surprise that they went to be with the Lord together.”

In September, David and Lora McManus of South Carolina also died from the virus, leaving behind a 14-year-old daughter, according to The Charlotte Observer. The couple was married for 40 years.

Johnny and Cathy Peoples, married for 48 years, lost their battle with COVID-19 in early September. They died together, hand in hand at a North Carolina hospital.

“The lives of Mom and Dad were stolen by a virus that many joke about on a daily basis,” their son Shane Peoples wrote in a Facebook post. “Both of them took this pandemic seriously and still got sick, still died.”