A close-knit immigrant Nicaraguan family who lived in America for over 30 years have lost their lives to coronavirus, according to their relatives.
According to ABC News, 33-year-old Marcela Lastre said that she along with her family are absolutely devastated after losing her uncle and aunt, Mario and Esperanza Mayorga, both 72, and cousin, Mario Mayorga Jr., 42. Lastre’s additional cousin, Violeta Mayorga, 45, also caught the deadly virus, but she is in recovery at the family’s home located in Miami.
It was reported that Mario Mayorga Jr. tested positive for COVID-19 in the middle of March while his other family members tested positive a week later. The father passed away on April 10, and his wife/mother of the family, Esperanza Mayorga, died this past Sunday.
“Ever since we got the stay-at-home order, every weekend we got bad news,” Lastre told ABC News.
Mario Mayorga Jr., who worked as a supervisor for a cleaning service that has medical office clientele, had come down with a fever and dry cough in mid-March and went to be seen by a physician, according to his cousin Lastre. At the time, he wasn’t experiencing any respiratory problems related to COVID-19, so he was told to self-isolate and stay at home.
“I had video chatted with him during that time,” Lastre recalled. “He looked like he had a very bad flu.”
After the doctor’s visit a few days later, Mario Jr. began to have respiratory issues and was admitted to a hospital where he tested positive, according to Lastre. Mario Jr.’s health took a turn for the worst as he needed bypass surgery and to be placed on a ventilator.
The remaining family members were reportedly tested after Mario Jr. was hospitalized, and the tests came back negative at that time. Mario Sr. grew more stressed as his son’s health declined with no signs of getting better, according to Lastre.
“He locked himself in his room and kept wondering what if something bad happens to [his son]?” she said. “He wasn’t eating.”
The women of the family took Mario Sr. to the emergency room due to his stress. All three members were retested for coronavirus, and the results came back positive, which resulted in their hospitalization.
“It was about three to 5 days from one person showing symptoms to the next one,” Lastre said. “We thought they would all show symptoms at the same time.”
Everyone but Violeta Mayorga’s condition declined so rapidly that Lastre said she was unsure if Mario Jr. was ever told about his parents’ deaths before his own passing.
“Between the ventilator and the sedatives, I don’t know how much he was aware of in the last few weeks,” she said.
Lastre said the deaths of her cousin, aunt, and uncle were an end to a long journey. The family moved from Nicaragua to America back in the 80s, worked hard, and often gave back to the community. Mario Sr. worked in a funeral home, and Esperanza worked as a nanny before becoming a homemaker, according to Lastre.
“They were grateful to be here and become U.S. citizens,” she said. “This has been a family who has been together for so long and built so much together.”
