Photo via Vaxx Mann/YouTube
September 20, 2021, 11:27 am
Breaking away from the usual story of a single anti-vaxxer and/or COVID-denier dying from COVID-19, a married couple has reportedly passed away from the illness within weeks of each other not long after declaring their stance on the vaccine on one of their final YouTube videos. Dusty and Tristan Graham were known as the “Alabama Pickers” for their adventures around the state going to antique shops and sales to find treasures that they would later sell on eBay for a higher price.
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According to a GoFundMe page set up by the couple’s family after Tristan passed away, she died in her sleep from COVID-19 complications while Dusty was also in the ICU fighting the illness. Unfortunately, Dusty passed away himself from similar complications three weeks later, and the fundraising campaign is now soliciting donations to cover both of their funeral expenses and help out their grieving families.
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The couple’s YouTube channel was deleted following Dusty’s passing, but another account dedicated to tracking the deaths of those skeptical of the COVID vaccine obtained and reposted a 93-minute video showing Dusty saying that he and his wife had not and would not ever get the shot. He appeared to downplay the seriousness of the situation, claiming that his “own passport” was the Bill of Rights and speculating that COVID-19 would no longer be an issue in the future.
This might be true, but Dusty and Tristan will no longer be around to see that future.
“Still haven’t gotten the you-know-what,” said Dustin, likely trying to avoid getting suspended by YouTube for spreading vaccine hesitancy. “Still not planning on getting it.”
“I think this will be all behind us in a couple years,” he added. “Then they’ll be like, ‘you don’t need that anymore.’”
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Alabama, being a deeply red state, has been hit hard by COVID in recent months during yet another disappointingly massive wave of the pandemic, filling up hospital beds with unvaccinated residents and causing medical staff to fear that their workplaces could shut down under the pressure. President of the Alabama Hospital Association Dr. Don Williamson warned that hospitals are losing revenue as he had to push his state to use the federal pandemic relief funds to alleviate this problem rather than using $400 million of it to build more prisons.
“What I’m worried about is when we get through this spike we’ll have hospitals that spent all of their reserves to get through this spike, then we end up losing the hospitals from the system before we get to another spike,” said Williamson. “We need dollars now to help address the crisis we’re in now.”
Meanwhile, the death rate from COVID-19 in Alabama is so high that for the first time since they began keeping records in 1900, the state’s death rate is outpacing its birth rate, causing the total population to shrink.
“This past year, for Alabama, the year 2020… we are going to have more deaths in the state of Alabama than we have ever had in the history of the state of Alabama, by a lot,” said Alabama Health Director Scott Harris.
According to AL.com, the Grahams had spread misinformation about the COVID vaccine in other videos, once claiming that the campaign to get as many people vaccinated as possible was a widespread form of “immunity therapy,” whatever that means. The couple had also reportedly bragged about surviving other health issues including bone cancer.
The fundraiser for their funeral expenses has surpassed $25,000 and is hoping to reach $35,000.
*First Published: September 20, 2021, 11:27 am
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