OPENING DAY RETREAT Cleveland to Face Detroit in Season Opener Today Couple Open Bridal ‘Escape’ SPECIAL SECTION, D in Former Schoolhouse B1
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OPENING DAY RETREAT Cleveland to face Detroit in season opener today Couple open bridal ‘escape’ SPECIAL SECTION, D in former schoolhouse B1 THURSDAY, April 1, 2021 $1.25 REFLECTIONS ON THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Covell worries about 3rd wave Health commissioner says ‘don’t ease up’ Jason Hawk The Chronicle-Telegram The pandemic isn’t over. Yes, vaccinations are helping tremendously, with more than 91,000 people in Lorain County already getting at least one dose, local Health Commissioner David Covell said. And yes, hospitalizations and deaths here have slowed. But Covell is concerned the good news will encourage residents to ease up on safety protocols just as progress is being made, which could allow the pandemic to drag on through the summer. KRISTIN BAUER / CHRONICLE See COVELL, A2 Kristi Charnigo, of Vermilion, sits for a portrait in her home March 23. Charnigo is one of many sufferers of long-haul COVID-19 symptoms after recovering from her initial infection. Lorain County ‘I used to be healthy and now I’m not’ reports 2 new Gymnastics coach deals with long-term effects of virus virus deaths Rini Jeffers Jack was getting better, but his mother was The Chronicle-Telegram The Chronicle-Telegram INSIDE not. She had fainted before, but she knew the incident was different. This seemed more like a Two more deaths from COVID-19 were VERMILION — When coronavirus first started n Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine protects younger teens, A2 seizure to her. A brief respite followed but within added to Lorain County’s toll in the past spreading in the United States, there were many n Johnson & Johnson vaccine batch two days “I got really sick — like hell,” she said. week, according to updated data from Lorain who thought children were virtually immune. fails quality check, A6 She had low-grade fevers but they brought But no matter what popular belief said, County Public Health. n Pandemic pushed U.S. death toll to body aches and difficulty breathing, heart pal- 7-year-old Jack was sick. The agency releases an updated count of new high in 2020, A6 pitations and lack of taste and smell. Just days after Thanksgiving, Kristi Charnigo total confirmed coronavirus deaths every “That’s when I started to get really panicked,” had just returned to her job as a gymnastics coach Wednesday afternoon. In total since the start of tion in her daughter. The kindergartner stayed she said. after a bout with a serious cold. She’d been tested the pandemic, there now have been 384 deaths healthy, but Charnigo did not. for the coronavirus and was cleared. Three days She went to another urgent care and was reported to Lorain County Public Health and Nine days after Jack’s trip to urgent care, after returning to work, she took Jack and his finally given a coronavirus test. She discovered confirmed through death certificates. Charnigo was standing in her bathroom. Both younger sister to the little girl’s gymnastics class. she, too, had COVID-19. While the majority of Lorain County All were checked for fever at the door; nothing was kids crowded in with her. Rounds of steroids, intravenous fluids and COVID-19 patients who died from their ill- amiss. Two hours later at home, Jack’s fever spiked She remembers her arms and legs starting nebulizers followed to help her breathing. ness were older adults in their 70s or up, the to almost 103 degrees. Medicine wasn’t bringing it to violently shake, and then waking up on the While her son recovered, the virus’s grip was pandemic also has claimed the lives of local down. His legs were hurting, but his mom thought floor, the kids staring at her in shock. much stronger despite the fact she was in peak residents as young as their 20s and 30s. it was from playing in the snow earlier. A trip to She called 911 and left in an ambulance. The physical condition. As of Wednesday, the county’s total urgent care and lots of bloodwork and a swab later, hospital sent her back home that night, unsure Charnigo, 34, has spent her life on the mat since COVID-19 deaths from throughout the pan- he found out the real cause: He had COVID-19. why she fainted, with instructions to follow up a ballet teacher told her mom when Charnigo was 3 demic included: one person in their 20s, one They quarantined at home and Jack’s tem- with a neurologist and stay hydrated. She left that she was “a little too aggressive” and to try gym- person in their 30s, five people in their 40s, perature stayed above normal for nearly two with a lump on her head from striking the floor nastics. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology 17 people in their 50s, 60 people in their 60s, weeks. His face was flushed and he complained and a mild concussion, but no COVID-19 swab. and chemistry with honors, she canceled attending 116 people in their 70s and 184 people ages of “horrendous” body aches while Charnigo, a “They said I was tested two weeks previously, graduate school for medicine to stay in the field. 80 and up. single mother, watched for any sign of infec- so it wasn’t needed,” she said. See COACH, A2 See DEATHS, A2 CONTINUED TREATMENT ORDERED AT MENTAL HOSPITAL Arts academy Va. man who killed parents, eyed for vacant arrested in Avon, committed Broadway store The Chronicle-Telegram a plea agree- paper quoted Raff as saying in as “afraid of being shot” by ment worked court. “I hope that some day in “frightening people” such as Carissa Woytach at least for the first year or two A Virginia man arrested by out in court the future I will be considered, “Latin gangs.” The Chronicle-Telegram until it really gets on its own Avon police more than two in January. (and it will be) possible that Jan Ralph was decapitated and can run on its own.” years ago while on the run Raff’s attorney somehow I can be reintegrated with an ax, his headless body LORAIN — Within the next While the pair are still work- after killing his parents has told a judge into the community.” covered with a rug and his year, an arts academy could fill ing out a name — The Lorain been committed to a mental that his client Avon police arrested Raff on head left in a trash bin at his the long-vacant Style Center Academy for the Arts or the hospital for further treatment. had delusions Feb. 3, 2019, after officers inves- Midlothian, Virginia, home, building on Broadway. Lorain Arts Academy — a board The Richmond Times- Raff that his father tigating a report of suspicious the Times-Dispatch reported. Jon Veard and Tony Giardini of directors is already taking Dispatch reported 56-year-old needed to be activity found Raff driving in Virginia police did not find gained possession of the build- shape for what will eventu- Robert Raff, of Chesterfield killed but the decision to plead the city with no headlights on Victoria Ralph’s body until ing at 418 Broadway via a dona- ally be a nonprofit operation. County, Virginia, was ordered guilty in his mother’s death was and on only three tires, with a Avon police told them where to tion from the County Landbank. Veard and Giardini are getting committed Tuesday for contin- “what my client wanted to do,” fourth wheel down to its rim. look based on statements Raff A recent $350,000 grant man- the ball rolling, but both agree ued treatment after being found according to the Times-Dispatch. Crying and wearing tacti- made following his arrest. She aged by Lorain County Com- once the center opens, they guilty of the 2019 murder of his Mental health experts for cal clothing and body armor, had been handcuffed, shocked munity College helped kick- will be merely visitors. mother, 79-year-old Victoria both the defense and pros- according to published reports, with a Taser device, then start the project that has been Once open, the space will Ralph, but not guilty by reason ecution who evaluated Raff he told Avon Officer Troy Gosce- beaten to death and her body on the self-proclaimed “co- host studio spaces and perfor- of insanity for the murder of his recommended he be hospi- wski: “I killed my parents.” stuffed into a box in her garage, instigators” minds for about mance stages for dance, music father, 86-year-old Jan Ralph, talized, and Raff told a judge The statements were caught the newspaper reported. two years, Giardini explained. and other arts. around the same time. he thought that was “wise on camera during a traffic Raff, who was born Robert “We have a pretty good idea “Our whole goal is to help Raff will be evaluated annu- simply because the recovery stop. Raff also said that he James Ralph but later changed what needs to be done, but — I’ll do the legal work, (Veard ally to determine a course process is going to be a long “snapped,” that his parents his name, lived with his par- more importantly we also plan will) help with the construction of treatment or whether he process for me,” according to were threatening him and had ents in Midlothian, Virginia, to raise money,” he said. “We stuff, give them some business should be released into the a Times-Dispatch story. him arrested or committed after the couple moved there need to raise money not just to advice and then let the board public with conditions, the “And I don’t think releas- previously and that he was in from New York City in 2007, cover anything that the grant of trustees take it from there,” newspaper reported.