Henry County Democratic Chairman Al Grimes dies of COVID-19, Missouri party chair says
William “Al” Grimes, the Henry County Democratic Party chairman, died early Sunday after he contracted the new coronavirus, Missouri Democratic Party chairperson Jean Peters Baker said.
“We will miss you Al,” Baker wrote on Twitter. “The stars will not shine as brightly.”
Grimes, a Navy veteran who was in his 70s, served as the chairman for the Henry County Democratic Committee. He was active in Democratic clubs and campaigns throughout Missouri’s 4th Congressional District, Baker said. He ran unsuccessfully for the state representative seat in Missouri’s 57th House District in 2014 and 2016.
Grimes, whose positive test for COVID-19 was reported March 13, was one of Missouri’s first positive cases of the virus, according to Henry County Health Center.
Grimes was hospitalized in Clinton prior to being transferred March 8 to a hospital in Kansas, where he was tested for COVID-19 and later died.
Raymond James, chairman of the Johnson County, Missouri, Democrats, said Grimes had a persistent dry cough when they got food at a buffet in early February. James got Grimes’ plate for him because he did not think Grimes should do it with his cough. James suggested Grimes see his doctor, which he did several times before he was hospitalized.
Grimes’ doctor pleaded for a COVID-19 test, which he “finally” got, James wrote on Facebook. Had Grimes been tested sooner, James said in a phone interview, it would have alerted community members about a positive case in the region faster. It may have also protected Grimes’ health care workers.
“When Al was having his problem and he went on the ventilator, those guys weren’t thinking, ‘Oh, we got a COVID-19 case in front of us,’” James said. “’This old man has pneumonia and we’re going to do things we would normally do with pneumonia patients.’”
That may have included not wearing as much personal protective equipment, which doctors and nurses across Missouri and Kansas are conserving in expectation of a surge of patients.
James, who knew Grimes for more than 10 years, said Grimes was in “excellent health” before he contracted the virus.
On Twitter, Democrat Lindsey Simmons, who is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler for Missouri’s 4th Congressional District seat, said she learned of Grimes’ hospitalization weeks after he suffered from the cough. By then, it had worsened.
“If our government had prepared to combat the virus in January, it would not have taken until mid-March for Al to receive the testing he deserved,” Simmons wrote.
‘A good man’
As news broke, Missouri Democrats offered their condolences and shared their memories of Grimes.
“Your infectious smile and your loveable wit and wisdom brought joy to our lives,” the Cass County Democrats posted on Facebook.
Simmons said Grimes changed her life.
“Full of life. Committed to just causes,” Simmons shared in a tweet. “Armed with a wit and sly smile that forced you to laugh. An infectious force for good.”
The first time Simmons met Grimes in person, he told her he heard she was an Army wife, she recalled.
“But ya better make sure your boy grows up to join the Navy,” Grimes told her with a smile, she wrote. “And welcome to Henry County, I’m Al Grimes.”
Elad Gross, a Democratic candidate for Missouri attorney general, said Grimes helped people organize local meetings, especially in western Missouri. Grimes would send silly photographs of the two of them to friends and local newspapers, Gross recalled. He called Grimes a “goofball with a mission.”
“We lost a good man today,” Gross tweeted.
In an interview, Gross said he did not know what the outcome might been if Grimes was tested for the virus sooner, but thought health care workers may have been able to try something different if they knew he had COVID-19.
“The earlier you can catch stuff, the better,” Gross said, noting he is not a medical professional. “We don’t have sufficient testing in Missouri and in the country.”
As of Sunday, more than 900 people in Missouri had tested positive for the new virus. Twelve people in the state have died.
In Kansas, at least 319 people have tested positive. Seven have died there.
Deaths across America topped 2,400 on Sunday, according to data from John Hopkins University. More than 130,000 people in the U.S. have contracted the virus — the most of any country. There were more than 700,000 cases and 33,000 deaths worldwide.
As the virus spread, James, the chairman in Johnson County, Missouri, called on people to practice social distancing. Public health experts have said the measure is important to slow the spread of the disease and avoid overwhelming hospitals.
“It’s not a hoax; it’s a real pandemic,” James said, comparing it to spotting bear tracks. “I don’t have to see the bear to know that there’s a bear.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2020 at 2:12 PM.
