RICHMOND, Va. -- The widow of a beloved Richmond pastor who died of COVID-19 just a month after the first case of the virus was reported in the Commonwealth is warning folks not to let down their guard.
Marcietia Glenn and her husband, the beloved and well-known Bishop Gerald O. Glenn of the New Deliverance Evangelistic Church, were both diagnosed with the virus.
Mrs. Glenn recovered, but the pastor died of complications from the virus on April 11, 2020.
Church officials broke the news of the pastor’s passing during Easter Sunday services -- and just a week after announcing the Glenns had contracted the virus.
“COVID has been so prevalent in our society for this year, it seems like it's very hard to mend,” Mrs. Glenn said.
In the months that have passed since her husband’s death, the mother of the church said that with so many people they know affected by the virus, “it just opens the wound every time we hear about COVID.”
RELATED: Richmond pastor Bishop G.O. Glenn dies of COVID-19 complications
While some of the changes brought on by COVID-19 seem more commonplace a year on, Mrs. Glenn worries that now that three vaccines are available and metrics are improving in Virginia, too many people will let their guard down.
“Even though it’s looking better, it’s not gone,” Mrs. Glenn said. “I’ve heard some people say, ‘I can’t wait til I get my second shot.’ Well, why!?”
Mrs. Glenn urged folks to be cautious.
“If you don’t want to be careful for yourself, be careful for your loved ones,” Mrs. Glenn pleaded. “Because the loved ones are the ones who suffer so much after all this is over.”
The toll of COVID-19 stretches to almost every part of life. But for thousands of families like the Glenns, piecing theirs back together is a process that will not end anytime soon.
“Everybody’s grief is so different,” Mrs. Glenn said. “I’m so afraid that we’re going to lose a lot of people behind this. Not just from death from COVID, but because they could not handle it mentally.”