Thread by @TexasTribune

They were not statistics. They were fathers, mothers, siblings, neighbors and friends.

In most cases, their loved ones couldn't gather and mourn together.

One year ago, the first Texan was killed by COVID-19. 45,000 deaths followed — and it’s not over. bit.ly/3rVxTE8

2/ The weight of those deaths fell unevenly across the state.

The people who died were disproportionately Hispanic, and border towns with heavily Hispanic populations were among the hardest hit in the nation over the course of the year. bit.ly/3bPjXWt

3/ One out of five were nursing home residents.

And the virus mostly killed people 60 years or older in a state where the median age is 35. bit.ly/3cAt2Bt

4/ A Matagorda County man in his late 90s was the first Texan to die with a confirmed case of coronavirus.

On March 16, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered shutdowns that would begin on March 20.

5/ There should have been hundreds of mourners around Phillip Perry’s grave.

But after losing their beloved principal to COVID-19 complications, the G.W. Carver Middle School community was forced to grieve apart. bit.ly/3rO1IWU

6/ A workforce of immigrants has long powered the massive JBS meatpacking plant in Cactus.

Those workers had little power to avoid the coronavirus. bit.ly/3vskNjx

7/ Adolfo Alvarado Jr. worked as a hospice chaplain in South Texas, visiting families from Roma to Brownsville, comforting the living and praying with the dying. His family says he was always showing up for other people.

Then the virus came for him. bit.ly/3qSEopI

8/ Holidays were difficult.

“I dread the things that will come up for me and the amount of effort it's going to take to rise above the grief and fear and anger about this happening to our country and the world," said Chris Mabe, who lost her mom. bit.ly/2Q6RmUf

9/ The week of Feb. 8, Texas recorded the 40,000th person to die due to the coronavirus. It had reported 20,000 deaths just three months prior.

10/ On March 2, Abbott announced he was rescinding his statewide mask mandate and capacity limits on businesses.

For some Texans who lost loved ones to the virus, the move was a "slap in the face." bit.ly/3vquizV

11/11 Our timeline tracks COVID-19’s rampage through Texas so far: the growing death toll, the policy decisions made in response to the pandemic and the stories of some of the Texans claimed by the virus.

The pressed flowers represent lives lost. bit.ly/3rVxTE8