9:16 p.m. ET, January 19, 2021
Covid-19 news conference interpreter dies of coronavirus
From CNN’s Andy Rose
Patty Sakal.
Courtesy Lorna Mouton Riff
An American Sign Language interpreter for Covid-19 briefings in Hawaii has died of the novel coronavirus.
Patty Sakal’s death was noted Tuesday by Gov. David Ige and state Senate President Ron Kouchi during a coronavirus news conference. “She certainly had wonderful expressions and emotions and a great passion for her job,” Kouchi said.
Sakal found out she had the virus when trying to return from a trip to California to visit one of her daughters, according to her sister Lorna Mouton Riff in an interview with CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now. She was 62 years old.
“We made that difficult decision to take her off of the ventilator and let her go in peace,” Mouton Riff said to Hawaii News Now.
Sakal was born to deaf parents, her sister told Hawaii News Now, and was the vice president of a non-profit organization that provides services to the hearing-impaired community in Honolulu.
In a profile issued by the state Department of Health last May, Sakal said, “Doing this allows me to honor and carry the rich Deaf heritage of ASL and Deaf culture given to me by my parents.”