Stillwater family says father is one of the first US deaths connected to COVID-19

A Stillwater, Minnesota, family is sharing their experience after they became some of the first to lose a loved one to COVID-19 in the U.S.

Liz Tomten told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS her father died March 8 of complications related to COVID-19 while a resident at the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Washington.

Tomten is the daughter of 84-year-old, Neil Lawyer, who Tomten said had moved into the Life Care Center in February and died a few weeks later after contracting COVID-19.

"It was and is still surreal, because everyone was not that familiar with COVID-19 at the time," Tomten said. "It was very difficult to not be able to visit him in Washington during this time until he passed."

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Tomten told KSTP she is not lecturing anyone, but her message to Minnesotans who are struggling with the stay at home order from Gov. Tim Walz is to try and understand a little inconvenience is better than the alternative of not surviving COVID-19.

"I feel for these families and victims who cannot be with their families when they pass," Tomten said. "Just be grateful you’re not in that position because I wouldn’t wish that on anybody else’s family."

Tomten said Washington health officials told her family their father was "No. 16," or the 16th person to die of COVID-19 complications in the U.S.

"He was larger than life and was affectionately called ‘Grandpa Moose’ because he was a big personality," Tomten said. "I just hope others won’t have to go through what our family did, and if that means taking this seriously and abiding by the rules, then that’s what we should do."