Hospital worker died ‘in complete agony’ of coronavirus after cleaning Covid-19 patients’ rooms
A hospital housekeeper died of coronavirus ‘in complete agony’ in her daughter’s arms after cleaning infected patients’ rooms. Rosa Luna, 67, was killed by Covid-19 on May 4, amid fears she may have picked the virus up while working as a cleaner at Riverside Community Hospital in Riverside, California.
Luna’s grief-stricken daughter Dora Reaza told of how her mom died in her arms, and said: ‘I just want everyone to take this virus very seriously. It seems like nobody is taking it’s seriously, but it is a horrible, horrible disease and you do not want your family member to die like that. My mother died in agony, complete agony.’
CBS LA reported that Luna was extremely careful while cleaning rooms at the hospital and would wear a mask as well as other PPE. But she still managed to contract the potentially-deadly new virus. Her loved-ones are still unsure of how she picked it up.
Reaza said: ‘Her clothes would stay outside. Her shoes would stay outside, and she would immediately take a shower.’ She added that she and Luna’s loved ones were ‘afraid’ for their mom’s safety, with their worst fears now tragically-realized.
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A vigil was held outside her former workplace on Thursday this week to pay tribute to Luna and other hospital housekeepers, and raise awareness of the risks those workers take for very little pay.
Local union representative Alejandra Aguilera said: ‘That’s why we are here, because sometimes the folks who do the hardest work are sometimes overlooked. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen here or anywhere else.’
Paying further tribute to Luna, her manager Danny Hernandez said: ‘She was an amazing person, someone that not only held herself to high standards, but her peers and myself, as her manager. She held me to high standards.’
California has so-far seen almost 75,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and just over 3,100 deaths.
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