Hudson County Native And Star Athlete Dies Of Coronavirus At 34

HOBOKEN, NJ — A well known high school athlete in Hudson County has died of coronavirus after visiting relatives in the area.

Alexis Demby was 34 and passed away on March 22. Two decades ago, she was a star basketball player at Memorial High School in West New York, in Hudson County. Since that time, she had moved to Georgia, but was back in West New York visiting relatives, friends said.

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Longtime Hudson County sportswriter Jim Hague told Demby's story on his sports blog on March 24. He said that after high school, Demby played for Caldwell College and earned a degree to become a social worker.

"She was a vivacious, extremely humble, fun-loving kid," he wrote. "She was a joy to watch — unless you were an opponent."

He quoted Demby's high school coach, Craig Kuzirian, as saying, “When she was on the floor, she busted her tail ... She came up a couple of weeks ago and was ready to go home. And then she got sick and passed. Her mother passed about three years ago. It’s a terrible thing. Her mother used to come to all the games and got to know everybody.”

West New York Mayor Gabirel Rodriguez said, "We offer our heartfelt condolences to the entire Demby family and everyone who knew Alexis from her days growing up in West New York, as a peer leader and an athletic standout at Memorial High School. Even though she no longer resided in West New York, she was one of ours."

He stressed, "Her death is a sobering reminder that COVID-19 doesn’t only affect the elderly. We implore our residents to stay home as much as possible and to continue practicing social distancing.”

In fact, the CDC released worldwide statistics last week on the demographics of coronavirus sufferers, although they only run through March 16. While the numbers show that the elderly are more likely to be hospitalized, officials in the U.S. have been saying they've been seeing more cases of young people who are seriously ill — and a baby in Illinois died from the virus this past week.

A GoFundMe has been set up by Demby's friends, who wrote, "The woman who ALWAYS smiled! Our Alexis, just 34, earned her angel wings on March 22nd ... leaves behind her younger sister Genesis and her older brother Ricky. Alexis [is] the loving, kind, always ready to have some fun, compassionate, caring, would take her shirt off her back kinda friend."

A West New York town spokesman said that since Demby's primary residence is in Georgia, her death did not count toward statistics for West New York nor New Jersey.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday afternoon that 198 residents have died from the disease, including eight in a Wanaque nursing home.

More than 16,000 residents are confirmed to have it, and more are awaiting test results, which often take several days, as this recent story about a Cranford victim shows.

Medical experts say that the novel coronavirus, because it's new, is more lethal and much harder to treat than the flu.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to others that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.

Residents who have questions about coronavirus can call 211 or contact the State of New Jersey's hotline at 1 (800) 222-1222.

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