‘He died alone’: Filipino father among New Jersey’s coronavirus victims

A Filipino father from Edison, New Jersey died on March 19 from the coronavirus, his son confirmed over the weekend.

Peter Dario died from COVID-19 two days prior and was “alone because the hospital restricted all visitors in order to contain the outbreak,” his son Peter John Dario posted on Twitter on March 21.

The younger Dario continued, “My deepest regret was not saying bye to him when I brought him to the hospital. I thought it was going to be a ‘Take care, see you back home.’”

My dad died two days ago from COVID19. He died alone because the hospital restricted all visitors in order to contain the outbreak. My deepest regret was not saying bye to him when I brought him to the hospital. I thought it was going to be a “Take care, see you back home.” 1/3

— Peter John Dario (@peterjohndario) March 21, 2020

As of this writing, Dario’s Twitter thread has garnered over 11,000 replies, from individuals around the world expressing their condolences and sharing their own experiences of family members dying from the virus.

He advised others to “cherish every moment with your loved ones” and “to help the people in the frontlines of all this.”

“There’s no room for hate or blame. I refused to let my dad become another number on the death toll,” Dario wrote in another tweet. “I told his story and you all should too.”

New Jersey has at least 2,844 known coronavirus cases with 27 deaths, officials announced Monday, March 23. Of the seven new deaths reported, they were five men and two women ranging in age from 57 to 91.

Governor Phil Murphy ordered all state residents to stay home and all nonessential retail businesses to close on Saturday.

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Editor’s note: The Asian Journal is working to document those of Filipino descent who have lost their lives because of the coronavirus in the United States. If you know of someone or would like to offer a remembrance of someone who has died of COVID-19, please tell us about them by emailing [email protected] with the subject line “Remembering Lives Lost.”