Apr 14, 2020 2 min read

DONORA – Rebecca Taquino took her sick husband to Mon Valley Hospital and never saw him again because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her husband, Devin Taquino, 47, died from the coronavirus three weeks later in a Pittsburgh hospital, becoming the first coronavirus victim Friday in Washington County, the mayor of Donora said.

“Their story is so heartbreaking,” Mayor Jim McDonough said Monday.

Rebecca Taquino said she wants her husband’s story to be told as a way to encourage people to take this virus seriously and be smart about how they behave in public.

“People think this is not going to happen to them,” she said.

Her husband came down with what they thought was a stomach virus with symptoms that were not initially associated with the coronavirus.

He reported to work on a Monday at the TTEC call center in Uniontown and returned there the next day, only to leave an hour later, his wife said.

Rebecca Taquino said she took him to a MedExpress Urgent Care clinic in Washington, and the staff there recommended he go to a hospital because the oxygen level in his blood was low.

He was put on a respirator at Mon Valley Hospital and later transferred to AHN West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh.

“He was under sedation the rest of his life,” Rebecca Taquino said.

Rebecca Taquino said she thought he would get better and come home because he didn’t have any underlying health problems associated with people at risk with the virus.

She and her oldest son both tested positive for the virus, and she said they have been in isolation to help prevent the disease from spreading.

“We have literally no idea definitely how this got into the house,” she said.

She said her husband was a proud nerd who loved video games and researching Donora history.

“Devin was a really nice person who was liked by everyone he met,” she said. “He loved life.”

Her husband was born in New York and moved to Donora from Ohio. He also was survived by three children, Jonathon, 25, Madyline, 18, and Kristopher, 16.