Married couples of 6 decades died of COVID-19 after haircut

• A couple who have been married for almost six decades died of COVID-19 a little over a week apart after a family visit for a haircut.
• Mike and Carol Bruno, from Chicago, took months to take strict precautions to catch the disease after visiting their son Joseph Bruno and his sister, who work in a salon.
• His sister took a COVID-19 test, which came back negative as a precaution and was quarantined for three to four days.
• Shortly after the 40-minute visit, Bruno’s sister started showing COVID-19-like symptoms, and Joseph and Carol Bruno also became symptomatic shortly thereafter.
• Carol Bruno was admitted to the hospital and put a ventilator around Thanksgiving, while her husband Mike followed just two weeks later.
• Carol Bruno died a day before Mike was put in a fan. Nine days later and just two days before Christmas, Mike Bruno also died of COVID-19.
• “If I had made that sacrifice, and, you know, not spent 30-40 minutes with my mother – they would still be here,” Joseph Bruno said.
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After months of precautions, a couple who had been married for nearly six decades died of COVID-19 after a home haircut, their son said.

Mike and Carol Bruno, of Chicago, died ten days apart in the hospital, Joseph Bruno said after his mother Carol Bruno and his sister visited his apartment for a haircut, CNN reported.

“My sister works in a salon and so my sister got a COVID test just before Thanksgiving and was negative. She was quarantined for three or four days after getting the negative test,” Joseph Bruno told WLS- TV said. “I needed a haircut, and she said, ‘Well, why don’t I just come to me and cut your hair so you don’t have to go into the salon.’ “

During the November 20 visit, which lasted the entire 40 minutes, Carol Bruno sat near an open window to help with ventilation, and all three wore masks and social distance.

“If I had made that sacrifice and not spent 30-40 minutes with my mother, they would still be here,” Joseph Bruno said.

Just one day after the family visit, Bruno’s sister started showing COVID-19-like symptoms, and Joseph Bruno and his mother followed shortly thereafter.

“Even when we thought we were doing everything right, we still got it,” Joseph Bruno told CNN.

Carol Bruno was admitted to the hospital on Thanksgiving, but was later discharged when her condition began to improve. A few days later she was picked up again and put in a ventilator.

Mike Bruno, who did not visit his wife in the hospital, also began showing symptoms of COVID-19, and he was admitted to the hospital about two weeks after Thanksgiving, Joseph Bruno told CNN.

Carol died of COVID-19 a day before Mike was put in a ventilator on December 14, according to her obituary. A little over a week later, Mike follows – just two days before Christmas, according to the CNN report.

“I think the thing that gives us peace is to know that my father did not know my mother had passed away,” Joseph Bruno told WLS-TV. “Knowing that they went to each other in less than ten days is such a beautiful thing. And you know, I’ll give anything to bring them back, but I’m so glad they’re back together.”

Mike and Carol Bruno are among tens of thousands of Americans who died from COVID-19 amid training in cases across the country. As of Tuesday, more than 19.5 million cases had been confirmed and nearly 338,000 people had died from COVID-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.