As far as his family knows, Darius Settles had no health problems. But five days after he tested positive for COVID-19, the son of Pastor David Settles of The Worship Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, died at the age of 30 on July 4.
“The virus is real,” Pastor Settles, who is now getting ready to bury his son on Saturday, told The Daily News Journal. “It’s not a hoax, and it’s not a joke. It’s real. Even with his age, I was convinced he’ll be fine. He’s young. He can fight it off. But that was not the case.”
Darius’ sister, Deja Settles, told NBC affiliate News4 that when she learned her brother was diagnosed with the virus, she thought he would recover quickly too.
“I wasn’t prepared for this. It wasn’t a possibility in my mind. I thought, he [was] going to be fine,” she said.
Darius Settles lived in Nashville’s Antioch community, the newspaper reported. He is among the 685 people to have died in the state after contracting coronavirus as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.
The state has reported 55,986 total cases of coronavirus with 32,736 recovered cases and 3,023 patients hospitalized.
Darius Settles, who was married and the father of a young son, is the youngest person to die of COVID-19 in Nashville so far, according to News4.
Pastor Settles, who spent Tuesday choosing suits for his son’s funeral, recalled how scared his son was when his condition worsened during his quarantine period. Settles said that his son begged him and his wife for prayer.
“He was scared,” David Settles remembered. “He told my wife he was scared. He asked, ‘Please mama, pray for me.’”