When coronavirus-stricken activist/rapper Roberto Correa landed in a Brooklyn hospital last month, a doctor advised his family to pray for a miracle.
“We took that to heart,” his nephew Melvin Mercado told the news sources as the family’s grim but hopeful vigil continued Thursday. And so, as Correa, 43, fights for survival inside NYU Langone Hospital, scores of family members, friends and even a few strangers gather nightly via Google Meets to pray as one for his full recovery.
“We’ve been doing that for four weeks, at 9 o’clock,” said Mercado, 29. “Friends and family, and friends of friends, all different backgrounds. People that have never prayed before that are praying.”
Correa, born and raised in Brooklyn, looms in his Sunset Park neighborhood as a prominent and popular figure: He owns The Booth NYC, a local clothing store/recording studio, and is a well-known local activist.
“He’s a very loving person, a very attractive personality,” said Mercado. “He just draws people in.”
Correa started showing symptoms nearly six weeks ago, with his condition worsening until he was admitted to the hospital where he was intubated about a month back. The family was soon appealing to a higher power for his recovery as the married father of two young daughters continued to struggle.
Different doctors come in and out to treat him, and “you lose that personal touch,” she added.
The Correa family is hardly alone among the city’s Latino population in waiting for good news during the COVID-19 pandemic. Authorities report minority groups, particularly Latinos and blacks, are testing at higher rates for the coronavirus than white New Yorkers.
An Instagram photo posted by Correa before his condition deteriorated showed his eyes shut tight, with an oxygen mask over his face and a towel draped over his head. Even then, he was sending a positive message to his friends and his more than 7,000 followers.
“God always got me so I will overcome one way or another,” he wrote. “Stay blessed and please please please take heed. It’s not a game!”
Mercado said just one example of his uncle’s giving nature was when he turned his store into a clearinghouse for supplies to Puerto Rico after the 2017 hurricane. Amparo Correa said her brother is still delivering a positive message while struggling to survive at Langone — citing the prayer cyber-circle as proof positive.
Amparo, asked what her brother would tell the community at this point, channeled his typical optimism: “Stay strong. We’re gonna get through this. We got this.”
COMMENTS