Vaccinated Married Couple Die Of Coronavirus 1-Minute Apart

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A family in western Michigan is mourning the loss of two relatives who died side-by-side, and within one minute of each other. Both had been vaccinated and are among the rare breakthrough coronavirus cases that have ended in COVID-19 deaths.

Cal and Linda Dunham did everything together, their daughter, Sarah Dunham, told FOX 17 in Grand Rapids. That continued until their deaths.

The two were both taken off ventilators on Sunday after they were wheeled into the same room. Cal died at 11:07 a.m., with Linda following at 11:08 a.m., FOX reported. The Grand Rapids couple were holding hands as they died.

“She always joked and said ‘well, you’re going to go before I am, I’ll be right there behind you, I promise.’,” Sarah Dunham told the news station. “And she really was, like she really was right there behind him.”

Sarah Dunham said her parents were vaccinated for several months before they caught the virus while on a family camping trip. Both had preexisting conditions, and found themselves hospitalized within days.

While coronavirus deaths are rare among vaccinated Americans, they have occurred in all states. Breakthrough coronavirus deaths amounted to between 0.2 percent and 5.6 percent across the states from the time vaccinations began to the end of July, according to a New York Times study.

“They did everything right, they did everything to protocol the way it should be done,” Sarah Dunham said while grieving the unexpected loss of her parents.

More than $1,690 of a $10,000 goal on GoFundMe has been raised for the family to pay funeral expenses.

“As this passing was unexpected, the immediate family has had less than a month to wrap their hearts and finances around this significant loss,” the GoFundMe states. “If you can spare any amount of money to assist with this financial burden, please know that it will be used wisely by the immediate family to pay for the funeral.”

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