“I simply informed her that dad was ready for her and that he was able to take her with him,” Priscilla informed CNN. “He knew that they could not be aside.”

Rolando and Yolanda Garcia have been kids once they met in San Juan, Texas, a South Texas border city. They turned highschool sweethearts, went to their senior promenade collectively. Rolando joined the Military and got here again to Texas to marry Yolanda.

The Garcias have been collectively on a regular basis. They’d three kids. Rolando labored as a meals dealer and Yolanda ran a magnificence store subsequent to their dwelling.

Two picket urns with the names of Rolando and Yolanda Garcia sit on a lounge desk surrounded by a small bouquet of flowers, angel collectible figurines and two portraits of a pair that spent their entire lives collectively.

Priscilla constructed the shrine to her mother and father of their San Juan, Texas, dwelling as her household waits for the worst of the coronavirus pandemic to go to allow them to safely maintain a memorial service.

Their kids nonetheless cannot fathom that the coronavirus pandemic took their mother and father away in what appeared like an prompt. Priscilla hopes folks will hear of the tragedy and struggling her mother and father endured and take the pandemic extra critically.

“It is very unbelievable and surprising,” stated Priscilla. “To the individuals who have not had it, be very cautious as a result of it is going to come for you. You are nice till you are not.”

The elder Garcias weren’t the one ones to get sick. Priscilla was contaminated after spending a number of days caring for her mother and father earlier than they went to the hospital. Priscilla’s husband and daughter have been additionally contaminated however have solely felt delicate signs. She has been quarantined in her mother and father’ dwelling till the virus passes.

Yolanda’s sister was additionally stricken with Covid-19 and is on a ventilator. The Garcia household ordeal is a testomony to how vicious the coronavirus has been on South Texas families.

The ache inflicted on families is what Dr. Martin Schwarcz, a pulmonary doctor, says is one among beautiful realities of this pandemic. Dr. Schwarcz treats critically Covid-19 sufferers in a number of hospital intensive care models.

Greater than 600 folks have died of the coronavirus within the Rio Grande Valley, in line with the Texas Division of State Well being Companies. The overwhelming majority of these have died simply within the month of July. The sudden spike in deaths is taking its toll on the medical teams treating the sufferers. Nurses are left emotionally drained as they endlessly ship unhealthy information to families.

Dr. Schwarcz recalled having to name a girl just lately and break the information that her father was shortly deteriorating and would in all probability not survive via the night time. The physician stated the girl began crying, pleading with him to not let her father go away as a result of the virus had already killed her mom and sister.

“It is very exhausting. We’re seeing entire families in our communities ravaged by the virus,” stated Dr. Schwartz. “A number of deaths inside one single household. It is horrible.”

The saga of Salvador and Imelda Muñoz captures the ruthless path the coronavirus can take. Salvador, 91, and Imelda, 86, by no means ventured out of their properties. Their kids organized for an in-home nurse to look after them.

In June, the aged couple celebrated their 60th marriage ceremony anniversary. What they did not know is that their nurse’s son had been contaminated, then the nurse bought sick and inside days each Salvador and Imelda have been additionally struck with Covid-19, in line with Marie Silva, the couple’s daughter.

The household says the 42-year-old nurse, who was a mom of three kids, died inside ten days of getting sick.

The Muñoz couple ended up within the hospital, however Silva says her mom was exhibiting indicators of enhancing. The household began planning for her to return dwelling, however she suffered a coronary heart assault.

Silva says what makes her mom’s demise so tough to just accept is that nursing teams have been so overwhelmed with sufferers that they could not reply to her mom in time.

“There was not sufficient employees to take care of her and she did not make it,” Silva informed CNN. “It was horrible. I used to be upset. I used to be offended. She was already chilly. No person had caught it.”

In one other hospital room, Salvador was getting worse with each passing day. The household organized one remaining video name. With a nurse on his finish holding a telephone, Silva says all of his kids gathered round and thanked him for being a very good father, that he was beloved and that he would by no means be forgotten.

“He did not cry. He by no means cried. He is such a robust man,” Silva stated. “However I may see the ache in his eyes.”

On July 10th, Silva and her household gathered for her mom’s memorial service. In the midst of the service, the household discovered that Salvador had handed away. Three days later the couple was buried collectively.

“His job right here was achieved,” stated Silva. “He was able to go together with his spouse. He beloved her. I do know that they are collectively and my dad would not have had it another method.”

The families ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic all share the widespread theme and frustration that so many individuals round them do not take the pandemic critically sufficient. They see too many individuals not carrying masks. Too many individuals filling up eating places or bowling alleys and far too many individuals who they imagine nonetheless view the pandemic as an exaggerated hoax.

These families have skilled the realities of this virus in a profound method. They’ve seen their family members left struggling alone in hospital rooms, gasping for air till they take their final breaths.

“That is what this virus does to you. It debilitates you to the purpose the place you possibly can’t eat, you possibly can’t drink. You possibly can barely breath, you possibly can’t speak. That is what I would like folks to know,” stated Silva.