Within Days, Florida Family Loses Two Siblings to Coronavirus

Mychaela Francis was home with her brother, Byron, when she saw he was struggling to breathe.

Paramedics rushed him to Florida Medical Center on June 27. He died that day of the coronavirus. He was 20.

Three days later, Ms. Francis, 22, began complaining of headaches and a fever, according to her family. Terrified, she insisted that her mother take her to the hospital. She died on July 8, according to the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office, which confirmed that the cause of death for both siblings was Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The deaths of two young siblings, within 11 days of each other, have devastated their large family in Lauderhill, Fla. They have also underscored two disturbing developments in the coronavirus outbreak: the surge of cases in states like Florida that reopened swiftly, and the rising number of people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are testing positive for the virus. In Florida, the median age of residents testing positive has dropped to 40, down from 65 in March.

There have been at least 369,826 cases of the coronavirus in Florida, according to a New York Times database. As of Wednesday morning, at least 5,205 people had died. Four children between the ages of 10 and 17 have died of the virus, according to the Florida Department of Health.