Tuesday 86 year old Donald Reed Herring died after testing positive for the coronavirus three weeks ago. Donald is the oldest brother to Senator Elizabeth Warren. Herring served 20 years in the United States Air Force retiring in 1973 as a lieutenant colonel and receiving several decorations for his service.
I’m grateful to the nurses and other front-line staff who took care of my brother, but it is hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say ‘I love you’ one more time. And now there’s no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close, … I will miss my brother.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Donald had been diagnosed with cancer years ago and undergone treatment, and was hospitalized for pneumonia in February. He then moved to a rehabilitation center to recover. The family did not identify the center.
The coronavirus has posed a particular risk to people at inpatient care facilities. Other patients in the facility where Herring was staying had active cases, according to what the family was told, and he was tested for the virus in early April. He received a positive result the next day, but did not show symptoms of the virus for another 11 days.
Former 2020 Democratic presidential candidates displayed their support for Senator warren on Twitter during her time of grieving.
