A SECOND man has died from the coronavirus after going to the Miami Beach Winter Party.
Ron Rich passed away over the weekend after attending the famous beach party in March and his death comes as the number of Covid-19 cases hit nearly 7000.
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The Winter Party Festival held March 4-10 drew thousands of gay men to Miami beach and is a fundraiser for the National LGBTQ Task Force.
Ron’s death was announced by the taskforce, which he volunteered for, the Miami Herald reports.
“The National LGBTQ Task Force is mourning the passing of a loyal volunteer, Ron Rich, who succumbed to COVID-19 over the weekend,” the it said in a Facebook post.
“Ron was a familiar face to the guests who attended the Task Force Gala, Winter Party Festival and our Fort Lauderdale house parties over the past five years as his big smile and warmth had him mostly serving on our hospitality team.“
His death comes after that of Israel Carreras, who was described as "healthy, and became Miami's first fatality from the coronavirus.
He told friends he contracted the deadly virus at the city's Winter Party Festival, held from March 4 through 10 in Miami Beach.
Partner, Franco Conquista, said Carreras isolated himself at home, but got sick quickly and died on Friday, WSVN reported .
"He started to feel sick after the event,” Conquista said.
“We went together. I went to his place, taking care of him for two days, and I also had it."
"He couldn’t breathe, so he wanted to go to the hospital, and then, he was at the hospital for four or five days."
Carreras' partner said medical workers then "put him to sleep because he was really agitated, and then, he never woke up again.”
Conquista described his partner, who reportedly worked in a warehouse and as an Uber driver, as "a very hard-working man" who "was full of energy."
He said the 40-year-old "was working 13, 14 hours a day so he could provide for himself and provide for his family back in Cuba.”
"It's like somebody sucked the will of wanting to live out of you, like it's just no reason," Conquista told WTVJ after his partner's death.
"Everybody loved him. His personality just shined … just an aura around him, you can feel the energy that was just pure positive energy."
Conquista told WSVN he wants people to know the coronavirus "is serious."
“They need to stay at home. It doesn’t just kill old people. This poor boy had only 40 years old."
"It can kill anybody, so just stay home and think of other people. Try to save other people’s lives. Just because you are not affected directly doesn’t mean that people are not suffering from this.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been resistant to implementing a statewide shutdown in Florida, which has 21 million residents.
Instead, he's been imposing tougher restrictions on counties that have been hit hard by the virus.
Nearly a third of Florida's counties have reported no cases of COVID-19, but most are small and rural.
Last Monday, DeSantis ordered any of the state's residents who had traveled to New York to self-isolate for 14 days.
New York is the epicenter of the United States' coronavirus outbreak, but in all, more than 100,000 cases have been confirmed across the country.
DeSantis has taken some statewide measures, and has closed parks, bars and gyms.
He's restricting visitations to nursing homes, and limiting restaurants to takeout and delivery.
The governor also eventually decided to close beaches in two South Florida counties.
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