‘How Do I Get Help?’ Dying Coronavirus Patient Asked Alexa

“We were saddened to hear about this news, and our hearts go out to the family,” a company spokeswoman said on Thursday night in a statement. “Today, customers can ask Alexa to call family or friends, or set up skills like Ask My Buddy, which lets you alert someone in your Personal Alert Network that you need them to check on you. We continue to build more features to help our customers.”

Ms. Dagen said that her sister had diabetes and high blood pressure, which also contributed to her death. She lived at the nursing home for about 10 years after having two strokes that caused paralysis on the left side of her body, Ms. Dagen added. Her oxygen levels plummeted because of the virus, which she contracted several weeks ago, said Ms. Dagen, who lives in Sparta, Mich.

“It was like she couldn’t breathe,” she said of her sister, who died at Mercy Health St. Mary’s in Grand Rapids on Saturday, shortly after being hospitalized.

A nursing home executive said that the center took appropriate action and that Lou Ann Dagen’s condition deteriorated rapidly.

“We can share that Lou Ann was getting excellent care and that our team was following both her advanced directives and clinical practice guidelines to manage her pain and symptoms,” Paul Pruitt, the nursing home’s director of operations, said in a statement. “Once those symptoms progressed rapidly, and at the advice of her medical team, she was immediately sent to the hospital.”

Mr. Pruitt said the nursing home encouraged the sisters’ regular video calls.

“Alexa was Lou Ann’s primary communication tool with her sister, who was unable to get to our facility,” he said. “It was a very positive part of her life, which we supported fully.”

Penny Dagen described her sister, who never married, as multitalented, and said that she played the organ, piano and guitar. She also sang and was an artist who wrote a children’s book, Ms. Dagen said.