When Maria Lopez, 50, found out her husband, Dante, was diagnosed with the coronavirus, she knew she had it also.

She already had a slight cough. Two days later, she had a fever of over 100 degrees and body aches. So Maria isolated herself and told her 15-year-old quadruplets they would have to be responsible for themselves, reminding them to wash the dishes, take out the trash and find something to eat.

By that Saturday, Maria couldn’t breathe and was transported by paramedics to St. Mary Medical Center. She was interned there for 5 days with her husband, the family’s sole breadwinner, a jornalero, laborer, in Orange County who’d been diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 29, the pain becoming nearly unbearable.

“It was very sad and frustrating,” Maria said. “I was at the hospital and so was he and I had to leave them alone because no one could enter the home.”

As bad as things were, and Dante, 52, calls it “the worst experience I’ve ever been through,” it was made even worse for the couple knowing that their children were alone, isolated in their Alamitos Beach home.

Isolated quadruplets

The first night alone without their parents was a weird feeling for the quadruplets.

“It felt kind of lonely because they were both there [in the hospital] and we were eating dinner and it was so quiet,” said Emily. “It was just weird. I felt bad.”

While Dante and Maria were stuck in the hospital—an expected stay of a few days eventually became two weeks—the children were left to depend on extended family and each other.

Maria’s two older daughters and her mother, siblings and friends would stop by to leave food, groceries and cleaning supplies at their doorstep. When one of the quadruplets started experiencing a cough shortly after his mom went to the hospital, his older sisters suggested he isolate himself in one room, just in case.

“It was lonely and kind of boring,” said the younger Dante, who passed the time by drawing, painting and watching movies.

The brother, known as the cook among the quadruplets, also had to rely on his sisters to feed him—a skill they admitted he was better at than them.

“I just wanted to get up and make my own sandwich,” he said.

The girls said they mostly divided up chores equally, though sometimes found themselves getting frustrated at each other. They still struggle with cooking but they have more respect for the work their mother does.

“Like way more,” said Marilyn.

The Wilson High School students said they were too focused on taking care of each other to be putting much focus on studying. Luckily, assignments weren’t being graded at that time.

The quadruplets said having help from family and each other helped make the experience less scary, though very surreal.

“You just see it on the news but you don’t expect it to happen to your family,” said Virginia.

Hospitalized parents

Soon after he was admitted, Dante was intubated, a process in which a tube is inserted down one’s throat for ventilation. It was a harrowing experience that has left him traumatized and unable to sleep at night, he said.

At times, he said, he wasn’t sedated enough or completely anesthetized and could feel hospital personnel pricking him or adjusting his tubing.

“I wanted to move and signal to them that I could feel, but I was immobile at that point,” he recalled.

Maria said her faith kept her going, fighting negative thoughts that at any moment her children could be left without both parents.

Transitioning to home life for the older Dante has been difficult since he was discharged on April 17. The first week at home he spent in isolation. He would get tired just by walking from his bed to the bathroom. When he tried to exercise he felt his muscles had disappeared and his heart would accelerate. Doctors told him he wasn’t supposed to do anything.

Despite taking sleeping pills, he stayed awake at night, reliving memories from his time in the hospital.

Maria said that had not Dante been able to eat on the second day without a tube at the hospital, he would have been sent to a rehabilitation center in Los Angeles. Weeks later, he still experiences discomfort from the intubation. The pain evident after short periods of talking.

Dante doesn’t know where he got the coronavirus. Neither his coworkers nor his clients got infected. It could have been one of the Home Depot stores he would frequent for supplies, but he isn’t sure.

He does know this: Waiting so long to see a doctor could have cost him his life.

“Sometimes, the material things can wait,” Lopez said. “In my mind, I was thinking of work. Those types of things can wait. Your health is more important.”

As much as he wants to return to work, though, the reality is he doesn’t know when he will be able to.

“You’d have to have your strength back at almost 100% to return because you have to lift heavy things,” he said.

Getting by, looking ahead

Maria said that with the help of family and programs like CALworks and EBT, they have been able to get by somewhat. They even qualified for financial assistance from Curacao, a furniture store popular among Latinos, when they showed proof that she and Dante had been sick.

But it’s not enough to cover all their expenses. They’re hoping they can qualify for any other resources, including a much anticipated city program the council is currently considering that would help families pay rent.

“Any kind of assistance would be helpful because right now he can’t work, and he didn’t finish his work, so he can’t go to clients and ask them to pay him because the work isn’t finished,” Maria said.

Meanwhile, the children are looking forward to a time when the family can go back out to nature, whether it’s to the beach just a few blocks away or walking the trails at El Dorado Park.

Said Virginia: “I’m just excited for when we could all go out together, like to a restaurant.”