A 25 year-old deli worker with autism who spoke of his fears about his customers not wearing face masks has been killed by Covid. Christopher Willett, from Knoxville in Tennessee, died of coronavirus on December 18, despite taking every precaution to try and protect himself from infection.

His grieving mother Diana Willett said: ‘Every day he would say, “I don’t understand mom. Do people just not care”… and he said “there are signs on every door. There are signs on posts. There are signs everywhere, and 90% of the people who come in this store don’t wear masks.”‘

Diana said that Christopher loved his job working behind the counter of a local deli, but that he worried about passing Covid onto her, because she has rheumatoid arthritis. Christopher had no underlying conditions, and was fastidious about mask wearing.

He would immediately change his clothes and have a shower as soon as he returned home from work. But Christopher fell ill on December 4, and immediately went to get tested for Covid. His result came back positive, and he went into quarantine.

The deli worker appeared to be coping with his symptoms, but Christopher’s cough got worse towards the end of his two week self-isolation period.

Diana told WATE: ‘I took my son to the hospital on Monday and dropped him off at the emergency room and he was dead on Friday night. And we buried him on Wednesday.’

The mother explained how Christopher’s condition had worsened as doctors struggled to boost his oxygen levels. He was put on a ventilator, and suffered a fatal heart attack just an hour later. Diana buried her son two days before Christmas Day.

The State of Tennessee does not have a mask mandate forcing citizens to wear them in public.

But Christopher was so pro-mask he even bought some personalized face-coverings as Christmas presents for loved-ones before falling ill.

And now Diana wants her son’s death to serve as a reminder to others to take all precautions to try and stop Covid from spreading.

She explained: ‘It makes me very angry because it made him angry, because he really truly didn’t understand why people won’t wear masks. It’s so simple.’

Paying tribute to her late son, Diana said: ‘He was a light. You know, he was my light. It was good to have somebody to come home to.’

The United States has now recorded 19.1million Covid cases, and more than 333,000 deaths.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected]

For more stories like this, check our news page

Source: Read Full Article