‘I feel like I’m in a nightmare’: Las Cruces woman loses mother & stepfather to Covid-19

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- In less than two weeks, Maritza Serna's world was turned upside down.

"I'm still kind of really in shock," Serna told ABC-7. "I feel like I'm in a nightmare."

On Oct. 15, her stepfather, Jose Manquera, was hospitalized for Covid-19. After being discharged, the 69-year-old was admitted to the intensive care unit just two days later.

"His organs just started failing," Serna said. "He ended up passing on the 28th."

Doctors placed her 67-year-old mother on a ventilator the day her step-father died.

"She didn't know my step-dad had passed because they had told us to not tell her because they didn't want her to get worse," Serna said.

Maria Burciaga de Manquera then died on November 7th.

"The only time we really got to FaceTime them was when we were saying our goodbyes to them," Serna said. "So it was really hard not being able to be there and hold their hands."

Serna said the family does not know how the couple contracted Covid-19. She told ABC-7 the week prior, they had just been to the dentist's office and to get their flu shots.

She asks the community to remember their actions affect people they may never meet.

"I know my parents wouldn't want me to be angry, but it makes me upset," Serna said. "Keep your distance. Stop throwing parties."

To help their family pay for the hospital expenses and burials, click on this link.