Beloved Anaheim Taco Restaurant Owner Dies After COVID Battle
ANAHEIM (CBSLA) - A beloved owner of an Orange County Mexican food restaurant died after spending a month in the hospital due to coronavirus.
For 36 years, Lorenzo Camacho greeted customers behind the counter at his family's Taco Boy restaurant in Anaheim.
"He's been a cashier, everybody knows him and he is very loved in the community," said Samuel Solis, Camacho's nephew. "He is very much going to be missed."
Solis said his uncle got sick at the end of November and was put on a ventilator at the hospital, but never came home.
After spending a month at the hospital, Camacho died on December 30 from complications related to COVID-19. He was 72.
Camacho's younger brother also died from complications from COVID-19 two days after his older brother.
A GoFundMe account has been set up for Camacho's relatives reeling after the loss of two beloved men in the span of a few days. As of Wednesday evening, it had raised almost $14,000.
"People are crying, and I just want to put it out there that it's been a big loss," said Solis. "Lorenzo and my other uncle, they were great men."
Orange County continued its record-setting pace for COVID-19 hospitalizations Tuesday.
The number of patients hospitalized rose from 2,178 Monday to 2,236 Tuesday, including an increase in intensive care patients from 500 to 504 — both new records.
County health officials also reported 1,376 newly confirmed cases and no new deaths, bringing countywide totals to 171,955 cases and 1,926 deaths.