A moment of silence for the passing of Kious Kelly, a 48-year-old gay man who worked as a nurse at New York’s Mount Sinai West Hospital in Manhattan. He died of COVID-19.
Kelly grew up in Lancing, Michigan and moved to New York to pursue a career in dance. He acquiesced instead to medicine, but led a happy life according to relatives. He tested positive for coronavirus March 18 and died a week later. He had no prior health problems.
“His death could have been prevented,” wrote Kelly’s sister, Marya Patrice Sherron, in a Facebook post. “Please help get our healthcare workers the protection they need.”
A lack of preventative gear, like hospital gowns and face masks, has led New York to become overrun with COVID-19 patients. Kelly kept to his duties, treating cases without the usual protective equipment.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Related: Is cybersex making a comeback thanks to coronavirus?
Friends, family, and co-workers of Kelly have set up a GoFundMe in his honor to help pay for outstanding medical bills, and to offer aid to Kelly’s parents, both of whom are said to be in failing health.
“He made me laugh a lot. The testimonials you can read about him are true. He cared, he went out of his way, and he could make you laugh or bring you down if needed when you were acting a fool. This administration and the CDC failed. My friend is gone. Now it’s time for this do-nothing administration to be gone too,” friend & coworker Phil Robert wrote on the page.
“It’s a shame that your life is cut short. This did not need to happen, you did not have to die. Kious is a life-force multiplier. He is full of life days ago and today he is gone. This is a life lost in vain. Many lives are sacrificed by the poor management of this COVID-19 crisis. This has to stop. Lives over profits. Humanity over politics,” wrote fellow medical worker Joanne Loo.
At present, New York City has more than 59,000 confirmed COVID-19 patients. That number is assumed to be lower than the actual number, due to the scarce availability of coronavirus tests.
shakes_head
Sigh, it’s Lansing MI, not Lancing, and his position was assistant nurse manager at the time of his passing.
Tishthedish1
Do you ever notice how many misspelled words there are constantly in articles posted on this website? The blame lies completely and totally on the mayor of New York City De blasphemous!!!
Maleko50
You mean it’s De Blasio’s fault that these people did not pay attention in school to spell correctly? Please explain.
Cam
@Tishthedish1
Translation: Trump called the virus a hoax, and refused testing kits, but you’re here trolling to try to deflect that.
woodroad34
Seems to be a very sweet guy and married (if the ring on his finger means anything). I look at all the nurses surrounding him, though, and feel worried for each of them. The hospital put out a rebuttal to the report that he was unprotected. Oh, and being from Michigan–it’s “Lansing”, not “Lancing”.
Tishthedish1
If he caught the virus because he was working unprotected than the blame is totally on the mayor of New York City who has been dragging his feet with buying supplies that the hospital needed that’s his job not the President of the United States he’s the mayor of New York!
Maleko50
The stimulus checks are paid for by the taxpayer. It’s not a gift!
Anders69
@Tishthedish1 – oh honey, you are so deluded. As an “Orange Cheeto” Trump supporter it seems you are yet another that believes everything Fox News tells you.
It’s sad that the actual, factual truth is being ignored. Mayor De Blasio could not order PPE’s, respirators or ventilators IF THEY ARE NOT AVAILABLE!!!!!! << Yeah, sorry for yelling, but not sure how else to get the point across. It is your "hero", the "Liar-in-Chief", that ignored and denied all the warnings he was getting FOR MONTHS, about this approaching pandemic. Wake up, sunshine, YOUR idiot that you worship has caused, created and perpetuated this crisis. Welcome to reality.
ShiningSex
It’s sad.
The orange maggot president could have done something earlier instead of calling the virus a hoax and NOT having people check as they arrived internationally like he claimed, but was lies proven.
Now the dumbass is on tv saying that his press conferences rate higher than The Bachelor??? Really? This is the moron some support??? IF you support him then you’re just scum.
This many didn’t have to die. And it’s growing.
batesmotel
When you collect the money he’s sending you, hopefully you’ll be able to pull yourself out of that negative blame space that has become your permanent residence. If you collect the money and still bitch, then you’re a hypocrite.
Chrisk
What do you think. He’s sending checks out of his personal account? It’s the Congress that approves the checks.
fur_hunter
Hey….batesmotel…..you MORON! The money is approved by Congress. It’s not the Orange MORON’s personal money. It’s most likely from OUR tax money collected from US…the citizens. Go get educated, you imbecile. We are laughing AT your ignorance, not with you.
justyouandi
Trump did not call the virus a hoax. He called his opponents’ attempt at blaming him for the spread of the virus a hoax.
Den
“Trump did not call the virus a hoax. He called his opponents’ attempt at blaming him for the spread of the virus a hoax.”
No, you Tw1t! He called the Democratic legislators requests that he listen to the advice of public health experts and epidemiologists a hoax!
HE LABELED THE DESIRE TO ACTUALLY DO WHAT WAS NECESSARY TO PROTECT HUMAN LIVES A HOAX, AND AN ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE HIM.
He called it “mean” when people noted he was lying about the number of infected, spreading lies and refusing to do what was necessary, in favor of what his imagination dictated.
Bob LaBlah
@Batesmotel..”When you collect the money he’s sending you, hopefully you’ll be able to pull yourself out of that negative blame space that has become your permanent residence. If you collect the money and still bitch, then you’re a hypocrite.”
Obviously you didnt get the memo but that $1200 check that some of us won’t be getting soon if the IRS doesn’t have their direct deposit info amounts to $300 per week. In cities such as NYC, Los Angels, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, the entire state of New Jersey…etc that barely covers the amount of a monthly bus pass ($300). People have a right to complain and complain loudly as to what/how are they suppose to survive when they CANT work. A lot more could have been done to prevent things from reaching the point where we had to shut everything down overnight and watch our hard earned saving evaporate into thin air. This are horrific if the price of gas has now hit ninety-nine cents per gallon here in Ok. I only pay $2.05 for premium and by Friday it might be less than $2 dollars. That $1200 is a joke but I sure am going to take it and spend it. The government has to give out money to spend because no one has any left. Many of these people STILL won’t be able to pay rent after they get the $1200 because they are hungry and have no food and the food pantries are closed because of the virus. And wait till the numbers start adding up as to how many people CANT pay their utility bills. Many of you have NO idea just how bad things are. By the way, ammunition is in such short supply gun stores here limit people to two boxes per day. Thats after a two or three hour wait just to get into the store.
Trekbike
I’ll never understand how any gay person can stand up for trump for any reason. The clown in chief and his circus administration are horrifying to say the least. It amazes me that all a person has to do is watch the clown speak and listen to what he says. You can’t change what the clown says just to fit your narrative. In all my 60 years of life and as a veteran of the Navy have I witnessed such a despicable, spiteful, disgusting, hateful man that lies at the cost of American lives. He should be held accountable for the lives he has taken by lying about such a deadly virus. Fox News is already expecting to be sued for the lies they Intentionally reported. This whole pandemic is beginning to remind me of the AIDS crisis. Sad as hell.
ChicagoSteve
Beautiful photo/video remembrance montage. Made even more so by my favorite singer of all time Karen Carpenter. The Go Fund Me page is a good idea except check with New York laws because the surviving members of his family might not be responsible for outstanding medical bills and so wouldn’t have to pay them.
Beachman
How tragic….and so young. May he RIP.
SeattleExplorer
Don’t waste your time raising money to pay outstanding medical bills. Put the time and effort into helping his family. Old medical bills are nobody else’s responsibility and the byproduct of this ridiculous medical system we live under. Sad to read this.
jayceecook
Having had to deal with the passing of 3 immediate members of my family in the past 2 and a half years, YES THEY CAN BE. If you or somebody else in your family, say your spouse/BF/GF/SO, are designated as the executor of their estate then you are responsible. If you yourself set up an estate to try and transfer any property (house, cars, etc) you will become responsible for old medical bills as well as any debt they had. If you are married and your spouse dies you are automatically responsible for their debt.
Now, that money doesn’t have to come from your personal finances (unless married) but whatever was left behind by the deceased. Let me tell you though, creditors will still hound you. When by brother killed himself last year they found my personal info and continually harassed me. In that situation I am not in any way responsible because he had no will and I refused to open an estate. I did not want to be responsible for anything of his. If you open an estate to try and acquire any property it will most likely take at least a year or two and you probably won’t get it because it will be seized to pay off the debt. Same with any cars or other vehicles, cash, inheritance, etc.
So it’s very possible that he had a will, designated a member of his family or spouse as the executor, and they are now legally required to use whatever is in his estate to pay his debt. The thing is though if I read the new stimulus bill correctly, any medical bills related to the COVID-19 pandemic should be forgiven. That’s for those who recover as well.
Saps48
He seems like a real sweetheart, and well regarded by his colleagues. That video brought a tear to my eye, what a waste of a good human being.
ElPillo
Too sad to lose lives this way
fur_hunter
My sincere condolences to his family and friends. It is sad that someone of value has passed away. It should have been the Orange MORON in the WH.
WSnyder
Rest in Peace. You were as Heroic as the firefighters that ran into the Towers on 9/11 and losing you was unnecessary and tragic. I hope your family will take comfort that your sacrifice will not be in vain and that your service to your fellow man speak volumes of your character and spirit.
Chipper
jayceecook. Sorry for your loss, but not every state has the same laws. I know in my state it is not that way. unless your name is on the contract. so please do not make such a broard statement. one for all does not work,
inbama
A nurse gives his life for others, and he’s not fully insured and has outstanding medical bills?
This insurance business sucks.
Black Pegasus
I wonder if his story would’ve been posted if he were overweight and old? It seems we only hear about the “coming out stories” and deaths of men who are young and photogenic.
Shocking right?
Anyway, my sympathies to Mr. Kelly and his love ones.
Cam
Let’s see, on a different post about a younger person dying you tried to lie and claim he had an underlying health condition when he didn’t.
On this post about a person outside the “dangerous” age group dying you’re trying to deflect again.
Hmmmm, almost as if you need to keep attention away from the fact that because of Trump’s failure and refusing WHO tests, people are dying.
Black Pegasus
@Cam
I’ve been reading your bombastic flame throwing comments for years. And unlike others I can see you coming. You’re always looking for an opponent to attack for for little or no reason. Not going to engage you.
Thanks and be safe.
GayEGO
Sad news! As for the misspelling, we all make mistakes which is why there is a spell checker that should be used. Lansing rhymes with dancing so it is not an unusual misspell.
Kangol2
Nurse Kious Kelly’s death (RIP) is such a sad story and it’s being replicated over and over now as the number of Americans who’ve died of Covid-19 surpasses the total who died on 9/11. The complete ineptitude, incompetence, dereliction, and indecency of Don the Con is revealing itself to the US and the world. But we knew, given that he like George W. Bush was a multiply failed “businessman,” utterly corrupt, and a pathological liar, that he would eventually screw something up so badly lots of Americans would die and the US economy would be dynamited, and the sad thing is that it took Drumpf less than 4 years, when W managed for almost 7 to skirt by before it all just blew up in his, ours and the globe’s faces.
djmcgamester
This sucks. They’re not getting the supplies they need and this is the result. They need one-use masks and gowns most of all. If the people trying to help us end up dead then who’s going to take care of us? We to take care of our healthcare workers in the best of times but more so now then ever.
justyouandi
Den, I know that’s what you’d like to believe, and your bias is so strong I know there’s no convincing you otherwise, but you’re wrong!
Aires the Ram
On Queerty, you can sure tell that folks are closed in at home. The “everything is Trump’s fault” crowd is out in force. They live their lives in a permanent state of ‘victim-ism’, no matter the subject matter. I would hate to live my life in a manner in which every bad thing that ever happened to me was someone elses fault, and not my own. I would hate to be so uneducated and uninformed to ACTUALLY BELIEVE a virus was caused by a President I didn’t like, rather than a virus that came out of a lab half-way across the world.
RandomGuy
Until those in the Orange Ape’s inner circle or his/their devoted followers start dropping from coronavirus the Republicans won’t care who dies because to them it’s an “Us VS Them” world and one less “of them” is always a win to those monsters.
ees901
Im neither Republican nor Democrat. This isn’t a war about parties.
Some of the comments here goes to show just how much people hate Trump while believing anything and everything the left wing media says.
The fact is, Trump never called the virus a hoax. Not once. I encourage you to fact check before posting stupid comments.
“Did Trump call covid19 a hoax?” Google ……..response…. No Trump did not call covid19 a hoax. Democrats said he treated covid19 like it was a hoax. Big difference….and fact is, he did not treat Covid 19 like it was a hoax.
As far as NYC goes, the mayor had 50000 ventilators from post 911 in a 911 warehouse and forgot all about them !!!!!!! If anything blame the incompetence of NYC mayor and lack of emergency leadership… I’m tired of people always trying to pass the buck to someone else.
And need I say more that when Trump closed the border to China initially the Democrats went crazy telling him he shouldn’t have done that. Now they’re saying he should have closed them sooner.
The fact of the matter is, COVID19 is the Chinese Government’s fault—they weaponized this. And instead of throwing energy at Trump, we should be urging our government representatives to go after China.