Fifteen members of a family in Arlington, Texas, has contracted the coronavirus following a birthday party that was held at their home. The family subsequently released a public service announcement asking the public to adopt the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines concerning the coronavirus pandemic, Yahoo reports.
Alexa Aragonez, a member of the family, said that her family thought it would be safe to host a party to celebrate the birthday of a member of the family since they had respected all guidelines concerning the pandemic by putting on facemasks and social distancing.
She said the family had been at the forefront of promoting mask-wearing by sewing masks and sending them to others. However, they thought since it was just a small gathering without outsiders, they were safe.
Alexa, who was not a part of the party, had simply dropped her 57-year-old mother, Enriqueta Aragonez, at the party. In total, there were about 12 people at the party, including Alexa’s pregnant cousin and four children below the age of 12. All 12 who attended the party came down with COVID-19. A few days later, three other family members who were not a part of the event were deemed positive for the virus, bringing the total number to 15. However, Alexa turned out negative.
While other family members came out with mild symptoms of the disease, it was Enriqueta that needed hospitalization. Her infection resulted in complications with pneumonia, which affected both of her lungs in all quadrants. She spoke in the video, urging everyone to protect themselves because the virus was real. Enriqueta has since recovered and is back home with the rest of the family, Newsweek writes.
Alexa said her family is quite fortunate with how things turned out, especially with her mom, who was able to recover. She said not every other family is as lucky.
Alexa and her sister work for the city of Arlington. To create public awareness using the turn of events in her family, she made the video with family members and asked the authorities to help spread the message. The video has since gone viral, with many influential figures and organizations supporting their messages through shares and retweets on various platforms.
Source: yahoo.com
