‘It’s happening to people you love’: Robbinsdale family suffers through COVID-19 death, 2 more infections

For the Gustafson family, this is a time of both loss and survival.

The coronavirus pandemic is at their doorstep.

“Some days, it doesn’t seem like it’s real,” said Jennifer Gustafson, who has now recovered from two bouts of COVID-19. “And all of a sudden, it turned our lives upside down.”

Early Saturday morning, the family got word that Jennifer Gustafson’s 89-year old mother, Carol Wilson, died overnight after she was diagnosed with the virus.

She had been living at a New Hope senior center and was checked for shortness of breath in early April.

"She passed away, and we have no idea how she got it because she lives in the senior apartments and never left,” Jennifer Gustafson said.

On April 4, the 62-year old hospital unit coordinator was admitted to North Memorial Hospital with COVID symptoms. Just two days later, her 55-year old husband, David, a firefighter and a maintenance and property inspector, was also diagnosed with the virus.

"You may think you’re healthy, and you might think you can’t get it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a carrier for it,” says Erin Gustafson, the couple’s daughter. “It doesn’t mean you’re not going to give it to somebody else."

Full coronavirus pandemic coverage

Jennifer Gustafson was allowed to return to her home in Robbinsdale and self-isolate. But days later, something went very wrong.

"I came down the stairs, and I said ‘Erin, Erin, call 911. I can’t breathe,’ and it was like I was suffocating,” she said.

The husband and wife both ended up on the same floor in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

David Gustafson was now facing his second severe health crisis.

“He was in the middle of his treatment for cancer of his kidney,” Jennifer Gustafson said. “Then this hit, and they had to stop because of his immune system.”

She returned home about a week-and-a-half ago and is now recovered, cleared by her doctor.

"I could’ve picked it up at the grocery store, or picked it up at work. Who knows?" she said.

David Gustafson has been on a ventilator for three weeks now, but the family says there are hopeful signs.

“I’m still wrapping my head around this,” says 19-year old Nicole, the Gustafsons’ younger daughter, who is now in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. “It’s a lot to take in.”

Nicole Gustafson and the rest of the family say they hope Minnesotans are taking COVID-19 seriously.

“There’s this thing on Facebook that I saw,” she said. “It said, i=’It might be hard to close your front door. But it’s even harder to close someone’s casket for a lifetime.’”

The family said Wilson had been healthy and living on her own but did have some pre-existing conditions, including heart surgery and several procedures to treat a stroke.

The Gustafsons said they’re delaying a memorial service until the summer because of COVID-19 concerns.

They worry about everyone from protesters to park users who might not be safely distancing.

“This isn’t some hoax. This isn’t something that the government’s just making up,” Erin Gustafson said. “This is something that’s happening in your neighborhood. It’s happening to people you love.”