Arlington retirement home resident is first to die from coronavirus in Tarrant County
A senior citizen who lived at an Arlington retirement center died Sunday of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, Tarrant County authorities said.
The county’s public health department did not release the man’s name, but according to his family, Pat James was the first person to die of the coronavirus in Tarrant County.
The 77-year-old man lived in a duplex at the Texas Masonic Retirement Center.
County officials are trying to determine the source of the man’s infection. They will also work to identify the people he was in contact with while he was ill so that they can be isolated, monitored for symptoms and tested.
Before his test results were known, James’ wife could not be tested, a relative said.
Pat and Jean James had experienced most of the same symptoms, according to their daughter-in-law, Shelley Brandt.
Jean James is quarantined. Until Tuesday, no one had confirmed what caused Pat’s death, Brandt said.
The family received the results of the test for COVID-19, administered the day before Pat James died, and now his widow can also have the test administered, Brandt said.
“I’m almost sure that she has it,” Brandt said. “They lived in the same house together. Right now, we are trying to get help for her and notify the people that she had contact with. I suppose they will have to take my mother-in-law’s word about his (Pat James’) contacts.”
It is not known how many people Pat James may have had contact with while he was ill. The family has spoken with workers in the epidemiology department with the Tarrant County Public Health Department to help in that effort, Brandt said.
At first, Pat James believed that he might have the flu, but that test came back negative, Brandt said.
“So they sent him home and he got some Tamiflu and thought he would wait it out,” Brandt said.
Social distancing
But Pat James kept getting sicker and was admitted to Arlington Memorial Hospital on March 10, Brandt said. His blood pressure had dropped and his oxygen saturation rate was low. After testing Pat James was diagnosed with double pneumonia and placed in the intensive care unit, where he was not allowed any visitors, Brandt said.
Pneumonia can be triggered by COVID-19.
Pat James was sedated and placed on a ventilator. He was given the test for COVID-19 on Saturday and then he died the next day, Brandt said.
Jean James must stay at home with no visitors until advised by her doctor, Brandt said.
“It’s upsetting,” Brandt said. “Her husband passed away, and we cannot go to her side to comfort her and she’s sick and in quarantine. We are doing what we can by phone and helping her as best we can from outside.”
Family members are doing their best to make funeral arrangements for Pat James, but until these medical issues are resolved, it will be difficult to go forward, Brandt said.
Brandt said there is no question in her mind that the health care received by her mother- and father-in-law has been great, especially the care provided by Jean James’ physician who had been helping the family track the status of the COVID-19 test administered to Pat James on Saturday.
Still, Brandt said she wonders why a COVID-19 test was not given to her father-in-law sooner. Brandt said she does not know if Jean James’ care will be any different if she is tested for COVID-19 and the results are positive.
“It’s my understanding he did not meet the criteria and the only criteria he did not meet is that he had not been out of the country,” Brandt said. “Just because he was not out the country does not mean the man in front of him at the hardware store had not been out of the country. If someone checks all the boxes except one, that should be a red flag.”
Meanwhile, Jean James grieves in isolation, separated from family and friends, and perhaps wondering if the same thing that killed her husband has sickened her.
“It seem like the miscommunication is when to test,” Brandt said Tuesday before the results of Pat James’ test came back. “I know everyone is backlogged. But we are going on 96 hours awaiting a result.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 4:35 PM.
