Elizabeth Warren has announced that one of her brothers has died from coronavirus.
Don Reed Herring, the Massachusetts senator's oldest brother, died in Oklahoma on Tuesday with Covid-19, she said. He was 86.
The former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination expressed her gratitude to the health workers who cared for her brother but said "it's hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say 'I love you' one more time — and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close" as quarantine measures across the US prevent families from holding services.
"I'll miss you dearly my brother," she said.
Mr Reed was a US Air Force veteran who joined the service at age 19 and spent more than five years "off and on in combat" during the Vietnam War.
"He was charming and funny, a natural leader," she said.
His smile was "quick and crooked", she said, and "always seemed to generate its own light, one that lit up everyone around him."
Ms Warren, who was born and raised in Oklahoma, was the youngest among four children with three older brothers: Don Reed, John Herring and David Herring. She frequently joked on the campaign trail that only one of them is a Democrat.
Her brothers appeared in a January campaign ad for the former candidate, reminiscing about their childhoods.
The Boston Globe reports that Mr Herring underwent treatment following a cancer diagnosis several years ago. He was hospitalised with pneumonia in February and moved into a rehabilitation centre for recovery.
Another patient in the facility had tested positive for Covid-19. Mr Herring tested positive for the disease earlier this month though he didn't show symptoms until roughly two weeks later.
He was moved into intensive acre on 15 April and died six days later.
The senator has been critical of Donald Trump's delayed response to the public health crisis but has not yet revealed her personal connection to the pandemic.
Late on Tuesday, she declared "enough is enough" and called for an investigation into the president's handling of the federal response.
She said: "He misled the public from the start. He's allocating resources based on which governors he likes best. His family and their cronies are making policy decisions in backroom deals."
