Widow blames Trump for husband's 'needless' COVID-19 death in viral obituary: 'Shame on all of you'

As the pandemic spread through the U.S., Stacy and David W. Nagy did everything they could to stay safe. Given David's medical history that increased his risk of becoming severely ill from the Novel Coronavirus, the couple didn't want to take any chances and tried to take every single precaution possible to avoid getting infected. And yet, on July 22, David breathed his last alone in a Texas intensive-care unit while his wife and three of his five kids watched from behind a glass wall. Having lost her husband of 20 years to COVID-19, Stacy channeled her grief and anger into an emotionally charged obituary in their local newspaper which has since gone viral on social media.

The devastated wife poured her pain into words as she blamed President Trump, the governor of Texas, and "the many ignorant, self-centered and selfish people" who refuse to wear a mask for her husband's "needless" death. "Dave did everything he was supposed to do, but you did not," the 72-year-old, wrote in the six-paragraph tribute to her 79-year-old husband. "Shame on all of you, and may Karma find you all!" Published in the Jefferson Jimplecute newspaper on July 30, the obituary echoed the pain and frustration of the countless Americans who've watched in fear as the Trump administration and the far-right politicized the pandemic and basic health recommendations.

"We were married for 20 years and now I'm not with him," Stacy told BuzzFeed News. "It's just been devastating for me. It pisses me off because he didn't need to die. Had people been following the recommendations, things would have been different. But people don't." She doesn't mince her words when laying the blame for her husband's death on the Trump administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as she believes them dismissing early recommendations like wearing face masks, helped fuel anti-mask movements across the country. "The whole thing is just so needless," she lamented to PEOPLE. "It’s difficult listening to the B.S. that Trump says, watching Trump ignore the whole thing and minimize it from the beginning and do nothing about it. It’s because of his attitude that this whole coronavirus thing turned into a political thing."

"Family members believe David's death was needless," the obituary reads. "They blame his death and the deaths of all other innocent people, on Trump, Abbott, and all of the other politicians who did not take this pandemic seriously and were more concerned with their popularity and votes than lives. Also to blame are the many ignorant, self-centered, and selfish people who refused to follow the advice of the medical professionals, believing their 'right' not to wear a mask was more important than killing innocent people."

David's health began deteriorating in March after suffering a fall that forced him to be hospitalized and then go into a nursing home to recover. Although David — an Army veteran from Northern California — wanted to go home, Stacey and his son thought he would be safer if he stayed at the nursing home as there he could be monitored for his "bad heart," high blood pressure, and diabetes. Stacey worried that if he returned home, she could the coronavirus—during a trip to the supermarket or such—and pass it on to him.

"I thought that he was safe where he was," she said. "I kept telling him, 'No Dave, you have to stay where you are because you're safe there. You can't afford to get this disease.'" However, a lockdown soon came into place at the nursing home, forcing a barrier between them. "We would try to holler through the thick glass window back and forth and we would put our hands up to the window to each other and when I would leave, we would kiss the window to each other. I would bring him treats occasionally, bring him his Diet Cokes, and things like that."

David tested positive in early July. Although doctors tried Remdesivir, plasma therapy, and placed him on a ventilator, his condition worsened and Stacey was unable to be by his side. She was only able to see him through the sliding glass door to his room and nurses and doctors wouldn't let her open the door more than an inch to talk to him. "He was unconscious by then, but I told him I loved him and I cried," she said. "The next day his kids came out and they went up and they were allowed to go into the floor to his door, but they couldn't open it to say goodbye."

As he neared his final moments, a nurse cracked open the glass door to David's room open "about an inch" for Stacey to deliver a final message. "I tried talking loudly, hoping he could hear me," she said. "I was crying and telling him to fight, that we needed him, that his dog Bobby misses him." In the wake of her husband's death, Stacey's grief quickly turned to anger, prompting her to publish the now-viral obituary. "I was pissed," she said. "I was super pissed because it didn't have to happen and every time I think about it I get angry and cry. People running around not wearing masks when they should, people making masks a political thing when it isn't. It's life and death. It's not political. It's about people."