An Inland Empire family is mourning the loss of two parents who died of COVID-19 just weeks apart, leaving behind five children, family members said Friday.
Daniel Macias, a 39-year-old middle school teacher, was diagnosed with COVID-19 soon after his wife, Davy Macias, a 37-year-old San Bernardino County nurse who had recently given birth to their fifth child before dying from COVID-19 late last month.
The couple leaves behind their newborn daughter and four other children, ages 7, 5, 3 and 2. The children are being cared for by their grandparents, family members said.
“I don’t know anyone who loved their kids as much as they did, and they made sure they told them every day,” Terri Serey, Daniel’s sister-in-law said. “I want them to be aware of how much they’re loved. And I want them to know how much their parents loved them.”
Daniel was diagnosed not long after his wife, and was hospitalized soon after, according to family members.
His wife, Davy, was a labor and delivery nurse at Kaiser Permanente in the city of Fontana. She had worked throughout the pandemic until she was hospitalized with the coronavirus while 7 months pregnant, family members said.
Both of them were intubated and treated in a hospital intensive care unit “due to the Delta variant,” according to a GoFundMe page started by Davy’s siblings.
The couple tested positive for COVID-19 after having traveled to the beach and a water park with their children, Davy’s brother, Vong Serey, told KTLA.
Around the time Davy was 34 weeks pregnant, six days after she was hospitalized, the doctor delivered the baby about six weeks early, Serey said.
Davy never got the chance to meet her newborn daughter, according to the GoFundMe page.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking. We were really pulling for Daniel after Davy died. We wanted him to wake up and name his baby girl,” Terri said.
Before being intubated, Daniel encouraged his family to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to avoid his situation, Vong said.
“COVID doesn’t play by the rules. It doesn’t matter — you’re young, old — it can hit anybody at this point,” Vong said.
He encouraged people not to wait to take the vaccine, noting that his family’s ordeal changed his mind about getting vaccinated.
“I did change my mind. When it hits this close to home, it does, it really affects you. It opens your eyes,” Vong said.
Family members started the GoFundMe account to help the couple’s children with food, clothing and other expenses. As of Friday evening, the page had raised over $160,000.
“We’ll dry our tears and we will smile. And we will try to make everything as calm as possible, but there really is no way to fix this,” Terri said.
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