KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Radio DJ Gerardo "El Metido" Corpus wears a shirt emblazoned with the words"Protejete y proteje a los demas" – Protect yourself and others.
The message honors his friend and coworker, Armando Cruz, who died Saturday from complications due to COVID-19.
"Just a good, good, good friend," Corpus said. "A good man, a good father and a good grandpa."
Cruz, of the Reyes Media Group, was 51 years old. He leaves behind his wife, Veronica; three children; and six grandchildren.
Cruz and Corpus worked together for 20 years at La X 1250 AM, hosting community events and fundraisers, and informing the community on their morning radio shows.
"He always helped people, the community," Corpus said. "He always worked for that. He don't care about the money."
Cruz started a talk show for people to call in with their issues or problems, and soon realized others would call in to help.
If someone had a hard time raising money for a funeral or sending the body of a loved one back to their birth country for the ceremony, Cruz popped up a tent at a local grocery store to raise money.
Corpus said when the EF5 tornado hit Joplin in 2011, a listener called the show, worried about his sister who lived there. Cruz asked for help and within hours, two trailers-worth of supplies had been donated for the displaced families.
Now, Cruz's family is planning for an unexpected funeral. They started a GoFundMe page to help with expenses.
Cruz also brought health officials onto his show to make sure listeners received up-to-date information about COVID-19, stressing how the severity of the virus.
The U.S. alone continues to inch closer to 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, something Dr. Rex Archer, with the Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department, said was preventable. Going forward, Archer said everyone needs to pretend they have the virus, which means continuing to social distance and wear masks despite fatigue.
"The longer we delay in gearing up, the worse it's going to be," Archer said. "There are projections going into next year of up to a million total deaths from this COVID if we don't get our act together."
Diana Reyes Raymer, general manager of the Reyes Media Group, said Cruz's loss is huge for his listeners.
"When you have that kind of audience, you can direct, you can shift a ship," Reyes Raymer said. "But when you don't have that, that ship is going to be much harder to direct."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that COVID-19 has hit communities of color harder. The Reyes Media Group alone lost two former employees to the virus in addition to Cruz, and three current employees recently contracted the virus.
Cruz became sick three weeks ago and just last week doctors thought he'd make it. But the next day his health declined again.
"Armando was a huge influence in our community," Reyes Raymer said. "Gentleman, hardworking, heartfelt, wanted everyone to be happy. And for this to happen, this is a wakeup call for us."
Corpus said he is surprised that Cruz was diagnosed with the virus.
"But the problem is the complications coming," Corpus said. "A lot of people are healthy or strong."
Now, Corpus has taken on Cruz's show, along with continuing his own show.
"The show tiene que continuar, we have to keep going, because that's what he wants, to help everybody," Corpus said. "So now it's in my hands."
Corpus said hopes his audience understands his message.
"This is a good time to say to everybody, 'This is serious. Protect, take care, think about this very seriously,'" Corpus said.
Archer said wearing a mask going into the fall and winter flu season will be important as ever to prevent the spread of both viruses and overcrowding hospitals.
