Jeannie Fulp, a visitor from Alpharetta, Ga., died March 13 after contracting COVID-19 in Hawaii and battling the disease for 41 days in a Honolulu hospital.
She left behind her husband of 43 years, Keith Fulp; a daughter, Julie Warholak; four grandchildren and many other friends and family.
Jeannie Fulp was diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to Straub Medical Center on Feb. 1, a month into a Hawaii vacation that had started on Maui.
Keith Fulp, 65, said he and his wife were regular visitors to Hawaii, a destination that held 30 years of memories for them. Jeannie Fulp loved the islands so much that she decided to make the annual trip to their Hawaii timeshares even though her husband’s work obligations required that he stay home.
“She really loved Hawaii and would not miss it,” Keith Fulp said. “Some friends said that she shouldn’t travel. We really weren’t worried about traveling, but she caught it. It was a shock.”
Hawaii Department of Health data indicates few cases since the start of the pandemic have involved visitors. From March 2020 to March 2021, only 595, or 2%, of the 28,835 cases of COVID-19 with a known origin have been linked to visitor-related travel. Returning Hawaii residents made up 8%, or 2,235, of the cases during that period. Some 90%, or 26,005 cases, were by community spread, according to DOH.
Keith Fulp said his wife was in good spirits when she arrived with a negative pre-travel COVID-19 test through the Safe Travels Hawaii program. She spent two great weeks on Maui before flying to Honolulu, where she didn’t start feeling bad until about the third week of January.
When he learned his wife was sick and needed to be hospitalized, Fulp flew out to Hawaii to provide support. Although he coudn’t see her in person at first because of hospital visitor restrictions, he walked back and forth from his Waikiki hotel room to Straub daily, logging up to 13 miles a day.
He said he wanted to get briefings from her medical team and stay close so he could respond quickly if anything happened. Often he just sat in a nearby park or under her window.
Starting Feb. 3, the hospital allowed Fulp to have Zoom calls with his wife. He made sure her mother and their daughter and grandchildren got Zoom time too. Verbal communications ceased after Feb. 5 when she was put on a ventilator, but the family still tried to stay in touch.
“Her mom and a friend got on Zoom and even played a round of mahjong, which was one of her favorite games,” Fulp said.
Family was finally allowed to go into her hospital room on Feb. 21, but her condition rapidly deteriorated.
“Her lungs were damaged very badly because of COVID and that lead to her death,” Fulp said. “Everyone is just devastated. They enjoyed having her around.”
