‘The Worst Has Passed’: Recovered From COVID, a Family Weathers Challenges Shared by Many Latino Immigrants

PBS FRONTLINE

By Paula Moura

At the end of December, Zully, a 31-year-old mother of two, found herself confronting the unimaginable: yet another COVID-19 nightmare.

Her then-8-month-old baby, Neysel, was running an intermittently high fever. Even though it was late at night, Zully texted Luciana Lira, the same woman who had taken care of Neysel for six weeks after he was born prematurely in April 2020. At that time, Zully was in the ICU, fighting for her life. Due to severe COVID-19 symptoms, she had given birth via C-section while in a medically induced coma. Her husband, Marvin, was also infected and couldn’t take care of the baby.