WOLCOTT — The brother of a former Town Council member died from complications of the COVID-19 virus, the former town official announced Thursday.

Chris O’Brien said his brother, Mike, 35, died on Thursday. It is the first reported death from the virus in Wolcott.

Mike O’Brien’s wife is also sick in an intensive care unit, his brother wrote on Facebook.

“Please keep my family in your prayers,” wrote Chris O’Brien, who is also a Wolcott Volunteer Ambulance Association member and an Emergency Medical Technician. “Please be very, very careful with your social interaction and avoid this virus.”

The death is a stark reminder that no town or family is protected from the coronavirus that has now reportedly killed at least 21 people in Connecticut, Wolcott Mayor Thomas G. Dunn said. Dunn said he did not know Mike O’Brien personally but was familiar with the family, some of whom have been involved in town politics.

“It hits home,” he said. “It’s definitely happening out there, and it’s not just a number. This was a person.

Dunn said staff in Wolcott’s Town Hall are splitting their shifts and that the town’s emergency services are adjusting their responses to certain emergency calls to reduce their potential exposure to the virus.

“We are a community, we’ve been through some tough times,” he said. “But this is everybody now. There’s no lines in the sand right now — it’s everybody.”


He urged people to take extreme precautions against coming into contact with anyone outside their family.

“Tell the kids, get off the basketball court,” he said. “It’s not a joke.”