当地时间9月2日，美国一对结婚48年的夫妻，因感染新冠肺炎双双去世。
生命的最后四分钟里，他们的手还紧紧相握，直到最后离开。
A couple who were married for 48 years died of coronavirus within four minutes of each other, holding hands.
图源：福克斯新闻视频
据福克斯新闻报道，在确诊新冠肺炎30天后，67岁的约翰尼·皮普尔斯和他现年65岁的妻子凯西·达琳在美国北卡罗莱纳州索尔兹伯里的一家医院去世。
Johnny Peoples, 67, and his 65-year-old wife Cathy Darlene passed away at a hospital in Salisbury, North Carolina, 30 days after being diagnosed with the disease.
“爸爸和妈妈手牵手生活了50年，之后手牵手去世，现在他们正在天堂里手牵着手。”两人的儿子谢恩告诉媒体，父母是在八月初开始出现新冠肺炎症状的。
"Mom and dad lived hand-to-hand for 50 years, they died hand-to-hand, now they’re walking in heaven hand-to-hand," Shane Peoples said of his parents, Darlene and Johnny Peoples. They started exhibiting symptoms of the novel coronavirus beginning in August, according to Shane.
谢恩还在脸书上分享了父母的一些老照片。这张照片大约拍摄于50年前，那时候他俩刚刚在一起。
图源：Facebook @Shane Dwight Peoples
当年，凯西在索尔兹伯里学院担任教师助理，约翰尼是美国陆军的一名中士。
相爱两年后，他们结了婚。
图源：Facebook @Shane Dwight Peoples
Both natives of North Carolina, Johnny was a sergeant in the U.S. Army and worked for the NC Department of Corrections and Cathy worked as teacher assistant at Salisbury Academy and a lab technician at LabCorp, according to an online tribute.
婚后的两个人十分恩爱，他们养育了三个孩子，还养了两只名叫萨米和梅西的贵宾犬，后来又有了九个孙子和孙女，一大家人其乐融融。他们也一直深爱着彼此。
据家人表示，约翰尼喜欢指导孩子体育运动，喜欢演奏音乐，是个十分顾家的男人。凯西喜欢听音乐，做手工，也喜欢打打牌。夫妻俩也都喜欢钓鱼和跟家人朋友在一起。
图源：Facebook @Shane Dwight Peoples
Johnny and Cathy are survived by their three children, nine grandchildren and numerous relatives. They are also survived by their beloved poodles, Sammy and Macy.
In their obituary, Johnny was described by his relatives as a man who "loved coaching youth sports, playing music and building the family tree," while Cathy's interests included crafting, listening to music and playing cards. Their loved ones said in the tribute that the pair both enjoyed fishing and "spending quality time with family and friends."
就这样，今年已经是两人结婚后在一起的第48年。虽然如今都年纪大了发了福，但一直过着简单幸福的生活。
图源：福克斯新闻网
然而，幸福平静的生活，因为新冠疫情戛然而止......
儿子谢恩透露，母亲凯西当时突然失去味觉并开始发烧，之后确诊为新冠。当时她没几天就可以退休了。
两天后，父亲约翰尼也开始出现相似的症状，最终没能幸免，同样感染了新冠。
Their heartbroken son Shane said his mother was first diagnosed with Covid-19, just a few days from when she was due to retire. “It was mainly the fever and loss of taste. My dad starting showing symptoms two days later,” he said.
住院两周后，夫妻两人的病情开始迅速恶化，很快就被送进了重症监护病房。
He said that the couple was placed in ICU after about a fortnight but their condition began to deteriorate rapidly.
图源：Facebook @Shane Dwight Peoples
看到约翰尼和凯西生命已经进入倒计时，医院的医护人员做了一个决定——把这对夫妻安置在了同一个重症监护室里，以便他们可以在一起度过最后的时光。
Staff at the Novant Health Rowan Regional Medical Center moved the couple into the same room so they could spend their final moments together.
9月2日，生命的最后四分钟里，他们还紧握着对方的手，直至最后离开。
图源：Facebook @Shane Dwight Peoples
这对夫妻离开后，他们的儿子谢恩在脸书上发布了对父母的悼词，叙述了突然失去至亲的痛苦。
“我们都被骗了。妈妈爸爸的生命被一种病毒偷走了，有很多人每天都在开玩笑，或者直接坚信这（新冠病毒）是某种骗局。爸爸妈妈一直很重视这次疫情，却还是感染了，还是走了……”
Days after their passing, Shane posted to his Facebook a tribute to his parents that outlined the heartache that comes with unexpectedly losing loved ones, "We were cheated. The lives of Mom and Dad were stolen by a virus that many joke about on a daily basis or just straight out believe it’s a hoax of some sort. Both of them took this pandemic seriously and still got sick, still died," the post read.
图源：Facebook @Shane Dwight Peoples
“他们都非常爱自己的家人，他们为自己的家人做了一切。这份爱在9个孙子孙女的身上最为浓烈。他们总想给孙子孙女们最好的东西，他们会想尽办法让他们每个人都感到自己是特别的。”
"They both loved their family very much and did anything and everything they could possibly do for them. Their love for family was greatest when it came to their grandchildren, nine of them in total. They wanted the best for their grandchildren, they would go out of their way just to make each one of them feel special."
“我真的非常想念他们。如今，我已经不能在每天晚上下班回家的路上和他们聊天，不能给他们发生活中的日常。我真的不知道失去了这些我该怎么办。”
"I miss them so very much. I’m not sure how I’m going to deal without being about to talk to them every night on my ride home from work or not being able to send them pictures and videos of my family."
“我的双手不能再拥抱他们了。我再也听不到妈妈给任何人唱生日快乐歌了。当他们的孙子孙女走进他们房间时，我永远都看不到他们的微笑了。”
"I'll never be able to hug them, again. I’ll never hear Mom sing happy birthday to anyone, again. I’ll never see them smile when they see Liam and Ava come in the room."
“他们再也看不到孙子孙女们长大、毕业……”
"They won’t get to see their grandchildren grow up, or see many of their grandchildren graduate."
图源：Facebook @Shane Dwight Peoples
他还写下这样一段话：
“从疫情开始以来，我们全家人对待新冠的态度都很严肃。是的，你们有些人嘲笑，有人持不同态度，有人甚至来跟我解释为什么这是个骗局。有人给我发一些充满虚假信息的视频，试图劝我别信科学，别信真相。有些人至今仍然不戴口罩，因为依然认为戴口罩只是保护自己而不是同时保护他人，或者只是觉得戴口罩不舒服。”
"Since the beginning of this pandemic my family has taken this virus very seriously. Yeah, some of you laughed, disagreed, or completely tried to explain how it was a hoax. Some of you even sent me videos of completely false information to dissuade me from the science, from the truth. Some of you still don't want to wear a simple mask, because you still think wearing a mask is about protecting you (It's about protecting others) or it’s uncomfortable…"
“爸爸妈妈应该至少再活20年，但他们却被病毒从我们身边带走了。他们的生命戛然而止，是因为那些不愿意遵守疾控中心防护指南的人，是那些对其他生命毫无尊重的人。”
Mom and Dad deserved at least another twenty years, at least twenty more years, but they were taken from us. Their lives were cut short because other people don't like CDC guidelines, because people have zero respect for others.
谢恩还表示，希望人们认真对待新冠肺炎，它是真实存在的且是致命的。“新冠病毒不是玩笑，也不是骗局。我只是不想让任何人受伤，也不想再让任何人感受到我们的悲伤。”
Shane says people need to understand that Covid-19 is real and can be a killer. "It's not a joke. It's not a hoax. I just don't want anyone else to get hurt. I don’t want anyone to feel the grief that we’re feeling," he said.
最后，谢恩强调：
“如果爱你的家人和朋友，请遵循这些防护措施：
洗手
戴口罩
保持社交距离
注意安全
远离不戴口罩的人
正确佩戴口罩（露出鼻子是错误的）”
图源：Facebook @Shane Dwight Peoples
据美国约翰斯·霍普金斯大学发布的最新数据，截至美东时间9月15日17时23分，美国新冠肺炎累计确诊病例数增至6595476例，累计死亡病例数增至195501例。
当地时间9月10日，美国《时代》周刊历史上第二次使用黑色边框封面，上一次还是在“9·11”恐怖袭击之后。
整个封面，记录了美国从2月29日到9月8日的每日新增死亡病例数，这些数据又汇成一个触目惊心的硕大数字——200000，呈现出美国新冠死亡病例数即将接近20万的现实。
而这死亡数字的背后，是一个个戛然而止的生命，是一个个不为人知的故事，和一个个破碎的家庭。
牵手去世的夫妻约翰尼和凯西，只是这近20万死亡病例中的两例。
8月8日，美国CNN主播曾在新闻中念逝者名单并介绍这些家庭时数度哽咽。她说，“在屏幕上显示的不仅仅是数字，他们是美国人。他们是父母，是祖父母，是孩子，是邻居。他们是活生生的人。”
"That is not just a number that we have been putting on the screen. These are Americans. They are parents. They are grandparents. They are kids and our neighbors. They are people."
据华盛顿大学健康指标与评估所所长克里斯托弗·莫里（Dr. Christopher Murray）警告，到今年冬天，美国新冠疫情可能会更难以控制，医院将面临流感和新冠的双重打击，预测12月死亡人数或达30万。专家称，若民众坚持严格佩戴口罩，或可让死亡人数降低至少一半。
综合来源：太阳报，FOX 29，CNN, 央视新闻
