Woman who lost parents to COVID-19: 'put a mask on'

"They died five days apart, my mom and my dad. I never told my mother when he died. I really was hoping that she could beat it, you know. And and she didn't."

Lisa Terio-Heath lost both her parents to the coronavirus just days apart.

Together for 65 years - Anthony and Rosemary Terio met and got married in New York City, raised four children and had four grandchildren.

Anthony died from COVID-19 on March 31, two weeks after being admitted to the hospital.

As the family came together, Rosemary was also diagnosed with the disease which quickly spread through the Terio family.

[Lisa Terio-Heath] "And at that point, eight family members had it. You know, it just it went the whole gamut. My sister was taking care of my mother. She caught it. Then she gave it to her son and her son gave it to his partner. And my brother gave it to his wife. And my other brother caught it and gave it to his wife."

Rosemary died on April 5th, five days after her husband.

Anthony Terio was 86-years-old. Rosemary was 82.

The Terios are just two of the nearly 200,000 who have died from COVID-19 in the United States.

According to a forecast from the University of Washington’s health institute, U.S. deaths could more than double by year's end, reaching 410,000.

As Lisa Terio-Heath continues to grieve the loss of her parents, she also feels anger at the politicians who downplayed the pandemic.

"My mind is getting angry with all the things that could have been done... And I'm not usually political, but I really feel that Trump... my parents' generation was a generation that trusted their doctors. They trusted their leaders."

Lisa's other family members have since recovered from COVID-19 and they are donating blood plasma in an effort to help doctors find a cure to this devastating disease.

While researchers continue to work towards a vaccine, Lisa appealed to people who still refuse to wear a face covering in public.

"So my message to people is this pain will never go away for me, to put a mask on so that you never have to suffer what I went through or know that you possibly contributed to that is... don't be selfish."