'I'm just waiting for him:' Cumberland County residents mourn losses from the pandemic

Since then, nearly 300 county residents have died.

On Tuesday, a small crowd gathered at the Cumberland County courthouse for a memorial service.

The first Cumberland County resident to lose the battle with COVID-19 died in Georgia. Benson Tyrone Atkins was visiting his mother when he contracted the virus.

"He was just adamant about going down there to see her, but he wasn't able to get close to her because she was in a nursing home," said Atkins' widow Diancia Atkins. "He did go down there to see her and was only supposed to be down there for a week and it ended up being three weeks."

Diancia Atkins said her husband started having breathing problems on April 5, 2020. The next day, he was put on a ventilator. He passed away on April 7, leaving behind a wife and two sons.

A year after COVID death, Army vet's loss leaves a hole in family, community

"The impact is that he was a major part of our lives so anything that I couldn't he -- he was there for. So, with him being gone, I have to pick up being the father along with the mother," said Diancia Atkins.

Since the start of the pandemic, 296 Cumberland County residents have died from coronavirus-related illnesses. Cumberland County's Health Director Dr. Jennifer Green said that number weighs heavy on her heart.

'I'm just waiting for him:' Cumberland County residents mourn losses from the pandemic

"Each of those lives is extremely important to us, and that really for me is what stands out and also those folks that have been hospitalized and maybe have some long-term effects from COVID," said Green.

Harold Lassiter contracted COVID-19 on Mother's Day weekend last year.

"Back then, it was [I] can't breathe and [at the] hospital for seven days, on oxygen for five days," said Lassiter.

Lassiter was one of the first patients in North Carolina given Remdesivir, a prescription medication proven effective in battling the virus.

"I was taking it two hours a day for five days a week. After day three, I was breathing on my own and home on that fifth day," he said.

Lassiter said he knows that he's one of the lucky ones for surviving. For families like the Atkinses, who lost a loved one to COVID-19, the grief is hard to bear even one year later.

"Just the unexpectedness of him leaving ... it really did have a very bad impact. I can't just move on and say, 'He's not here,' because it seems like I'm just waiting up for him every night," said Diancia Atkins.

Green said a lot has changed for families and health care workers in a year. She added that last year, they were battling the politics encouraging people to wear masks, and now, they're doing the same about getting the vaccine.