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A Georgia firefighter died Sunday from COVID-19, days after he tested positive for the virus.
Hall County firefighter Shaun Stringer, 43, has been experiencing cold symptoms before testing positive, his brother, Michael, told the Gainesville Times. But his brother feels that Stringer's condition was more serious at the time.
Stringer had been with the department since 2007. Before joining the agency, he served in the Marines.
“Once you become a service guy, that’s the only thing that you know, and I think that’s what kind of led him into it,” said Hall County Lt. Jaime Aguilar, a friend of Stringer for over two decades. “He was a man (who) served.”
Calling him the department's "hardest worker," Aguilar said Stringer had worked the most overtime hours. Stringer also offered support to Aguilar's family after the death of the lieutenant's sister-in-law.
“Shaun was definitely at the house every single day, sitting there with my brother every day and wouldn’t go home,” Aguilar said.
"He’s definitely a man that was always present and was always that one person that you can count on to be there," he added.
Stringer is survived by his wife, three daughters and a step-daughter.
“In the 43 years that he lived, he lived life to the fullest,” Michael Stringer said.
