Maniaci said 10 or 11 members of his big Sicilian family gathered shortly before Thanksgiving for a regular Sunday dinner, where there was social distancing practiced. Nonetheless, seven of the family members became infected at the dinner, including Maniaci’s mother, Rosaria, who was just 70 years old when she died.
Rosaria also had recently won her battle against lymphoma, and had felt she had just gotten a second lease on life, Maniaci said. Now, instead of planning a big Christmas meal, he’s planning a funeral.
“It’s heartbreaking, and I just don’t want anyone else” to experience what his family is going through, said Maniaci.
Another poll respondent, Lilian Munoz, 57, of Framingham is still in isolation after testing positive for the virus following the Thanksgiving weekend — and she, too, advises her fellow Massachusetts residents to “stay home, it’s not worth it.”
“If you really need to gather with your family, then use a laptop, Chromebook, or a smartphone,” and do it virtually, she said.
Munoz believes she contracted the virus from her baby grandson, who she saw — and cuddled — the day before she started feeling poorly. The grandson soon spiked a fever, his parents took him to the hospital, and he tested positive for COVID-19.
The baby’s parents, including Munoz’s 25-year-old son, never tested positive so she doesn’t know where the baby picked up the virus.
She described her illness, occasionally coughing through the interview, as “really bad,” and at one point her oxygen level was down to 88 percent (95 percent or above is typically considered normal). But Munoz resisted going to the hospital because she is the primary caregiver for three of her granddaughters, ages 3, 9, and 10. She didn’t want them to end up “in the system,” she said.
Still, there were days of her illness when she worried “they’ll find me dead in the morning,” she felt so sick.
“I prayed to God, ‘God, please, you gave them to me, you have to take care of me.’ That’s where my faith actually kicked in to the fullest. I don’t think ever in my life, I have use my faith as much,” said Munoz, who worked as a medical translator before the pandemic led her to stay home to care for the kids.
All three of her granddaughters tested positive and got sick, too, so Munoz cared for them while she battled the virus herself. She kept checking their oxygen levels to make sure they did not need medical care.
She recalled dragging herself “room to room to make sure they were fine.” The girls, however, recovered quickly. Munoz herself developed pneumonia, and continues to battle excruciating body aches, fatigue, and a cough.
“This has been really, really bad,” Munoz said. “You know what is worse, is some stupid people out there saying that this is fake news and this is another cold. I mean, I have had colds. I have had pneumonia. Yeah, I had the flu. . . . I know how the flu feels. And I can tell you, I’m 57 years old, and I had never experienced something like this.”
Fifteen percent of poll respondents said they believe they had COVID-19. Interviews with some in that group found at least some who suffered only mild symptoms feel very differently about the Governor’s warnings on the dangers of holiday gatherings.
Craig Peltier, 39, says he believes he had the coronavirus back in January, in part because he lost his sense of smell, though he wasn’t officially diagnosed.
“I wouldn’t even call it a flu,” he said of his symptoms.
As for the multitude of experts and officials calling for continued vigilance in the face of the pandemic’s second wave?
“My honest opinion is that this is an airborne virus, and nobody’s gonna be able to hide from it,” said Peltier, who lives in Monson. “Herd immunity is going to be the best way.”
Debbie, who didn’t want to share her last name or where she lived, believes she had the coronavirus last December. She described herself as extremely sick, wheezing, with a headache that didn’t stop for days. She tested negative for the flu, her X-rays showed no sign of pneumonia, and the doctor said it was something “viral.”
Debbie now thinks it was an early case of COVID-19. “What kind of virus knocks you on your ass like that?”
Despite this, she doesn’t believe Baker’s restrictions are appropriate. She said her mother, who is 79, would rather die than not see her family and her grandkids.
“You have to live. . . . If people don’t want to go out, don’t go out,” Debbie said, noting she was speaking to a reporter from Walmart. “It’s packed.”
Victoria McGrane can be reached at victoria.mcgrane@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @vgmac.
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‘Stay home, it’s not worth it.’ Here’s what people who had COVID-19 say about the holidays - The Boston Globe
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