The family of a longtime Boeing employee who died from coronavirus hopes others will take the symptoms and precautions seriously.
Monique Smith said she talked to her dad, Elton Washington, 57, almost every day. When he told her about his flu-like symptoms two weeks ago, she started to worry.
“I said, ‘We can't have you sick with any flu-like symptoms because those symptoms are too similar to COVID-19, you need to go to the ER and get checked right away,’ and he didn't do that,” Smith said, Tuesday.
She said her dad, who had diabetes, waited, and by the time he went to the ER last week, his condition worsened. She said her father died from coronavirus Sunday morning.
“The hardest part for me, I think, was not being by my father's side to say goodbye to him,” Smith said.
Elton Washington worked at Boeing in Everett for 27 years. The company this week suspended work at its Puget Sound plants to prevent coronavirus from spreading. At least 30 Boeing workers have tested positive for coronavirus.
Smith said she wants everyone to take the virus very seriously and points out the reason people are isolating, and businesses and schools are closing, is so other families don't have to endure what hers has.
“You just need to stay in your house and do the proper things to make sure you're protecting yourself and everyone else around you, it just escalates way too fast, and you never know, I never expected any of this to happen to my dad,” she said.