One year later: Doctors and their families discuss lasting effect of COVID-19 Tags: HOUSTON – Thursday marked one year since the World Health Organization first called the new coronavirus a pandemic. Laura Lesher and her husband know just how devastating the virus can be. Her father, Frank Granados Jr., died from pneumonia and complications from COVID-19 in Houston on February 14. He was 71. “My dad fought a hard fight,” she said. “He gave it his all. Very proud of him but it was God’s plan.” The announcement from the W.H.O. last March came as the virus spread and life as we knew it was turned upside down.