COVID-19 claims lives of 9 nuns at Catholic center in Adrian

The coronavirus has swept through a Catholic center in Adrian, infecting 107 people, including 47 nuns, in the past month.

Nine of the nuns at Adrian Dominican Sisters have died. They ranged in age from 79 to 97, underscoring the deadly impact of the coronavirus on elderly populations.

"The impact of so many sisters dying of COVID in such a short period of time is numbing for us, especially since we kept the virus at bay for over nine months with no Sister testing positive until Dec. 20," Sister Patricia Siemen, the head of the Dominican Sisters, told The Detroit Free Press.

"While we each grieve in different ways and different timings, this is a great sadness for us, communally. However, we are women of faith and we believe that our sisters are now with the God they have served all their lives. This is what gets us through these difficult times together."

The center is home to 217 nuns, and an additional 363 people work at the campus.

Between April and June, COVID-19 claimed the lives of 13 nuns at the Congregation of the sisters of St. Felix of Cantalice, or Felician Sisters. Among those who died were teachers, an organist, a nurse, an author, and a secretary in the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Since the pandemic began in March, the coronavirus has claimed the lives of more than 14,600 Michigan residents. Nearly 560,000 confirmed cases have been confirmed.

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