A Covid-19 Death on Key Biscayne. Many Knew Pepe

The community is mourning the death of Juan Gracia (Adobe)

When Theodore Holloway, the former Key Biscayne councilman, could not get his car started one day, he knew he could call on his neighbor, Juan Gracia, known as Pepe to many on the island.

“It was a VW engine in a 1937 Jaguar kit car I have,” said Holloway. “He came right over and figured it out.”

Mr. Gracia, a Mercedes Benz mechanic who was a long time island resident, died May 9 of complications related to Covid-19. His death from the virus was the first officially confirmed on Key Biscayne. He had just turned 66.

His sister, Ivette Thomas, also lives on the island. She had not seen her brother since February, she said in an interview. 

In March, Ms. Thomas learned in a phone call from her brother that “Juan started coming down with a fever and coughing in March. Then he fainted a couple of times. He went to Mercy Hospital. The doctors tried everything — even a plasma transfusion. He was on a ventilator for four weeks and then had multi-organ failure.”  

Adding to the tragedy, Mr. Gracia lived with his 92-year-old mother. She also fell ill, but has since been slowly recovering at home after eight weeks in hospital. Because of her frail condition, she has not been told of her son’s death since she returned to the island last week.

The Florida Department of Health reported on Thursday that there were 99 known cases of Covid-19 on Key Biscayne.  

A Covid-19 testing program started a month ago by the Key Biscayne Community Foundation reported results last month from 924 tests that found 8 positive cases of the disease. To protect privacy, the foundation and Miami testing facility BioCollections Worldwide does not identify publicly who has tested positive. 

A key element in containing the spread of the virus is what is known as contact tracing. In many countries teams of public health officials follow-up positive cases with detailed investigations to find who the infected person may have been in touch with — usually family members and friends. Then the contacts are tested.

None of that is happening in an official capacity, or otherwise systematically, on Key Biscayne.

When  BioCollections discovers a positive result, it alerts the affected individual and encourages them to do their own contact tracing. The process is voluntary.   

The Village government plays no role in tracking down possible contacts, according to Andrea Agha, the manager of the Key Biscayne’s government. The local government is looking to the State and County Florida Departments of Health for help and guidance, though nothing is stopping the Village from organizing a program.  

“We have had discussions with state health officials, but there is no general program on Key Biscayne for contact tracing,” she said. “We check our own employees to make sure no one is infected.” 

Mr. Gracia came to Miami in 1959 as a child from Havana with his parents and other family members. Enjoying tinkering on engines, he obtained a GED, or general education diploma, and later became certified as a mechanic.

According to Ms. Thomas, he never thought he would be infected with the virus and continued his business of repairing vehicles. He paid house calls on Key Biscayne, working out of his van.

“He was self-trained mostly and loved his work,” Ms. Thomas said. “He put people before his own health. His downfall was he never thought it could happen to him.”

One occasional customer was Ron Erbel, who is a retired Key Biscayne Fire-Rescue officer.

“I would order the parts I needed,” Erbel said. “And Pepe would come over, and we would do the job together. About six months ago, I needed to replace the brakes on my truck. We spent four hours doing it together and at the end he asked me for 50 bucks. Just a really nice guy.”

Ms. Thomas expressed frustration. “I wasn’t able to say good-bye to my brother,” she said. “We don’t have closure.” Now she is doing all she can to look after her mother. 

She said the Key Biscayne community had been wonderfully supportive of the family. Many people who knew Mr. Gracia “reached out immediately with offers to give my brother plasma,” she said. “He was so loved by so many people.” 

This article was updated to reflect the most recent confirmed COVID-19 cases on Key Biscayne: FDOH reported 99 cases on Thursday, June 25th, 2020.

As of July 3, there were 138 cases on Key Biscayne.