Second Person Dies From Coronavirus After Attending Miami Beach Winter Party Festival

A second person who attended the Miami Beach Winter Party Festival has died after contracting the novel coronavirus, police said.

The National LGBTQ Task Force announced the news on Tuesday, sharing a picture of the years-long volunteer Ron Rich. Rich became the second person to pass away from coronavirus after attending the Winter Music Party, and now, a growing number of people who attended the famed party are reporting flu-like symptoms. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

” They’re putting me on a ventilator’ was the last thing he wrote me, and that was Friday morning,” a man who considered Rich his best friend said.” He was just, for me, he was like my security blanket.”

According to Local 10 News in Miami, 40-year-old Israel Carrera was the first known coronavirus death of a person known to have been at the party. His boyfriend, Franco Consquista, recalled how much fun they had attending the Winter Party Festival in South Beach earlier last month.

A few days after the festival, the couple began to experience fatigue. “We had a cold, and then he had problems breathing, so he couldn’t breathe,” Consquista said. “He went to the hospital.”

Consquista said his boyfriend fought for his life for nine days, and while Carrera showed early signs of improvement, Israel’s health took a turn, and he died last Thursday at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.

“Just because this didn’t affect you directly, it doesn’t mean this virus doesn’t exist,” Consquista said. “It doesn’t mean people are not suffering. It doesn’t mean people are not dying. People are suffering, and people are dying, so stay in, stay safe. Don’t spread the virus!”