Daughter of COVID-19 fatality says mom died alone, hurriedly cremated

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino woman who recently died after contracting the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) died alone and was hurriedly cremated, without any ceremony or tribute, her daughter lamented.

In her Facebook post, Liza Paqueo grieved how her mother passed away without her children beside her as they are all in the United States.

They also could not visit their father who also tested positive for the disease and is currently confined in a hospital in Manila.

“A few hours ago, my beautiful mother, Nida, was cremated. She died alone without her loving family and friends around her. She was cremated, alone, without ceremony or tribute,” she wrote.

“My father is alone as well. He is at a Manila hospital, in stable condition and in quarantine. But he is in deep grief over the loss of his wife of 47 years–the love of his life,” Paqueo added.

To further add to the grief, rumors and malicious misinformation circulated on social media, which resulted in threats and the “stigmatization” of their family, she added.

“To compound the grief and pain, rumors and malicious misinformation have circulated on social media about my parents. This has all resulted in panic, violence, threats, and stigmatization of our family and loved ones. Disclosure of private information has circulated as well,” Paqueo added.

She clarified that her mother Nida went to the hospital on March 5 for localized pneumonia, and days later, her father was also admitted.

All of their family and friends have been exposed to the two patients and are already in isolation and quarantine, Paqueo added.

Her parents also lived in Manila and have not been to their hometown of Surigao City for several months. They also have not traveled anywhere domestically or internationally.

“No one knows how they contracted COVID-19, but Manila is a crowded, internationally mix city of 13 million people. Speculations as to where they got it from is unknown, and we are leaving that to the Department of Health,” Paqueo said.

She encouraged people who have been in close contact with her parents to isolate themselves for 14 days and report to the DOH if they experience fever or cough.

“Our family has been in constant communication with infectious disease specialist, medical professionals and with each other to be socially and medically responsible. If you have any questions or fears, please do not hesitate to ask us questions,” Paqueo wrote.

“HOWEVER, please do respect our family during this extremely painful time. We want to concentrate our energy and our prayers on our father’s recovery (sadly from afar) and not on quelling damaging and dangerous rumors and threats,” she added.

Nida Cortes Paqueo was the first Filipino to die from COVID-19.

Her husband, who has also tested positive for the disease, attended a Senate hearing as a resource person, prompting several senators to go on self-quarantine.

READ: Gatchalian goes into self-quarantine after interacting with virus-positive resource person

READ: Nancy Binay, too, to go into self-quarantine

The Senate premises were also closed on Thursday for disinfection and sanitation.

READ: Resource person with COVID-19 forces Senate to go on lockdown

To date, 64 patients were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19, with eight cases ending in deaths.

READ: DOH confirms 3 new deaths in PH due to coronavirus

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday placed Metro Manila under community quarantine or lockdown amid the growing number of confirmed cases.

READ: Metro Manila placed under ‘community quarantine’ due to COVID-19

The government has also upgraded its COVID-19 alert from Code Red Sublevel 1 to Sublevel 2.

READ: Philippines upgrades coronavirus alert to Code Red Sublevel 2

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses identified the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 as SARS-CoV-2.

The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.

Coronavirus is a family of viruses, which surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces. #

Edited by MUF