'Please Be Careful': Fountain Valley Nurse And Her Family Test Positive For Coronavirus
FOUNTAIN VALLEY (CBSLA) -- A Fountain Valley family battling several household cases of coronavirus is urging people to continue to take safety precautions even as places are beginning to reopen.
The Ortizes, a tight-knit family that includes frontline workers, have had their lives upended by this pandemic.
A couple, their daughter and two other household family members have tested positive for coronavirus.
Lucinda Ortiz, a nurse at Huntington Beach Hospital, was finally able to come home from the hospital after several weeks of battling COVID-19.
Her husband, Gerardo, is still on a ventilator.
It's unclear what the source of their infections was, but the family believes Lucinda contracted the virus from having contact with patients who had coronavirus.
One by one, a total of five family members in the household have had to be hospitalized, including two relatives with special needs and a brother-in-law in his 30s with no underlying health conditions.
Holly, the couple's daughter, was also concerned when she too fell ill because she needed to care for her children.
She said the back-to-back hospitalizations have devastated her family and she worries others are downplaying the seriousness of the pandemic.
"It's been very hard," Holly said. "Wear a mask, be at distance. Please be careful. It's real. It's not a joke."
Holly is hoping to raise $10,000 to help support her family as they continue on their road to recovery.
According to their GoFundMe fundraiser, the family is asking for assistance with paying bills, backup in-home supportive services to care for the adults with special needs, child care, personal protective equipment and disinfectant wipes.