Normal sensible thoughts and logical conclusions apparently didn’t factor into the recent deaths of poor Gene Hackman, 95, and his 63 year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa.

This, at least, is what came to mind when I read breaking news about what caused the couple’s deaths.

Santa Fe officials have stated that Arakawa died of Hantavirus, a rare flu-like disease, on or about February 11th.

Hackman, they said, lived with his dead wife’s body for a full week before succumbing to complications from heart problems and Alzheimer’s disease.

Arakawa, repeating, died of Hantavirus on or about February 11th.

Does Hantavirus infection cause death immediately? No, but you can’t be casual or cavalier when it gets into your system. Hantavirus initially causes flu-like symptoms (fever, fatigue, muscle aches) but can lead to difficulty breathing and, if untreated, respiratory failure and shock.

Why didn’t Arakawa contact her primary-care physician or paramedics to explore what might be happening to her? No explanation.

Arakawa expired on the bathroom floor on Tuesday, February 11th.

“She died of the virus likely that day, New Mexico Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell said at a highly anticipated press conference on Friday afternoon,” it says here.

What did Hackman do when she passed? Nothing, according to authorities. He sat or slept or shuffled around the house for roughly a week after his wife stopped breathing. No calls to their doctor or to cops or paramedics, no calls to his neighbors…the poor guy just hung out and did nothing.

He eventually passed from “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and from Alzheimer’s,” Jarrell said.

In other words, when he realized Betsy was gone Hackman apparently gave up. He chose not to summon help. He threw in the towel. A sad ending, to say the least.