“She had suffered. And so we are going through a very difficult time. It was not easy, but in many ways, I’m so glad she’s out of pain,” Waters said.

Her sister Velma Moody, 86, contracted the highly contagious virus at Grand Manor Nursing Home in St. Louis. She died on May 1. Waters did not publicly announce her sister’s death outside of the Grio interview.

The virus has spread rapidly through nursing homes, where the elderly population is most vulnerable to infection. It has also disproportionately swept through black communities. In the Grio interview, Waters accused President Trump of not caring “about these deaths.” She implored African Americans “to take care of yourself because a lot of people out there don’t care about you.”

Waters has long been fiercely critical of the president, but in late March she leveled a torrent of furious tweets at Trump over his handling of the pandemic that has claimed more than 80,000 American lives.

“Trump, stop congratulating yourself! You’re a failure & you’ve mishandled this #COVID19 disaster!” Waters tweeted. “Your ignorance & incompetence are appalling & you continue to demonstrate that every time you open your mouth!”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also lost a sibling to the coronavirus. Last month, the senator shared that her oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, 86, died after contracting covid-19 a few weeks earlier.